


when all is lost (then all is found)

by kalkiesoo



Series: ohana means family (nobody gets left behind) [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Arson, Arsonist Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Attempt at Humor, Bad Parent Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Bad Parenting, Blaze Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Canon Rewrite, Canon who?, Child Abandonment, Child Neglect, Crack Treated Seriously, Creeper Hybrid Sam | Awesamdude, Dadza, Feral TommyInnit (Video Blogging RFP), Gen, How Do I Tag, Hurt TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Insane Wilbur Soot, Light Angst, Lowercase, Luke | Punz & Sapnap are Siblings, Older Sibling Luke | Punz, Older Sibling Sam | Awesamdude, Older Sibling Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Older Sibling Wilbur Soot, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Piglin Hybrid Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Protective Wilbur Soot, Swearing, Technoblade Tries (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade is Bad at Feelings (Video Blogging RPF), This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, TommyInnit Angst (Video Blogging RPF), TommyInnit-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot and Technoblade and TommyInnit are Siblings, Winged Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Younger Sibling TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), dream is just so confused, dream team isn't better, is this how tagging works, no beta we all die like wilbur, not a very good dadza though, punz sam and sapnap are brothers and you cannot stop me, sleepy bois inc are all idiots in different ways, tommy is an absolute idiot that mf, tubbo is a little shit, why does jschlatt have two tags, why does techno have three tags??, wilbur and techno are adopted lmao, wingza!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:56:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 32,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28894026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalkiesoo/pseuds/kalkiesoo
Summary: "tommy hates us." wilbur says, a frown on his face.beside him, technoblade raises an eyebrow, "and what makes you say that?" he asks.or the one where tommy is an idiot, technoblade is actually part of the family, wilbur is slowly losing his mind, and for once, philza is trying to be a good dad.prompt inspired by Atalante241's "SBI as fam but Tommy doesn't know lmao"! lowercase intended !
Relationships: Dream SMP Ensemble & TommyInnit, Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Series: ohana means family (nobody gets left behind) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2122311
Comments: 535
Kudos: 1990





	1. prologue.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Atalante241](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Atalante241/gifts).
  * Inspired by [SBI as fam but Tommy doesn’t know lmao](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28637526) by [Atalante241](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Atalante241/pseuds/Atalante241). 



# P R O L O G U E

_❝sometimes, a family is not❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

  
it starts small, like most things do. that's part of the reason that it went so unnoticed, to the point that you could no longer ignore it and was forced to face what happened.

it starts with technoblade referring to phil by his name instead of father. _(tommy starts doing the same.)_  
it starts with wilbur jokingly referring to phil as dad. _(an inside joke, tommy reasons.)_  
it starts with phil leaving more frequently on trips, taking technoblade or wilbur with him, sometimes even both. _(never tommy, but why should he care? he was lucky enough that they take care of him.)_  
it ends with tommy being so out of touch with his own family that they aren't his family anymore. that they aren't _his_ anymore. he is still _their's_ though.

sometimes, a family is ~~three~~ _two_ sons. _(and their neighbor)_  
sometimes, a family is not.

for a long time, life was simple, the three of them would leave, off to their little worlds, and tommy would be left in the house, alone in his own world.

phil leaves to go off to an adventure, to slay a dragon, to save a village. he leaves to explore monuments, to build structures.  
technoblade leaves to enter competitions, to win and win and to have people worship him, revere him as a blood god.  
wilbur leaves for the people, he plays lovely music and joins dating shows, he entertains people and charms them all.  
they take each other on their trips sometimes, on their adventures. _not tommy though, never tommy._  
tommy is left alone in the house, waiting for them to come back and regale him of tales of adventure. until tommy get's tired of a lonely childhood, and secretly, he too, leaves.

that is when he meets tubbo, a boy that is barely older than him, with eyes that shine and smiles that make tommy feel so happy. _(he's never felt this happiness before.)_ tubbo helps him build a house, a short distance away from ~~their~~ _phil, techno and wilbur's_ house. he helps him build an underground tunnel between the two houses.

when tubbo asks questions, tommy offhandedly mentions that he ~~used to~~ live with three men. when he asks if they were his family, tommy shakes his head and says that they are merely his neighbors.

tubbo is different, he is a breath of fresh air, he showed up and insisted on befriending tommy. and for once, he had something to look forward to that wasn't phil, techno and wilbur's stories when they returned. for once, tommy had something- no, some _one_ , that was his.

once, tommy would stay in that house while they would leave. he would make sure that the house was clean, presentable for when they returned. he learned to cook and clean and do chores.  
once, that was what tommy would do, everyday in that lonesome house.

but now, tommy has tubbo. tommy has something else in his life other than his chores in that ever so empty house.

once, tommy would stay. but _now_? now, tommy would leave. he leaves and goes to tubbo, and the two of them spend the day having fun, doing pranks and being kids.

_(when once, tommy would be left alone in an empty house. now, he has tubbo, and he will never be left alone once again.)_

the two of them would spend every day together, and tubbo even gifts tommy two discs, one named mellohi and one named cat. _(tommy almost cried when he got them, they were one of the first things that had ever been gifted to him that wasn't phil tiredly giving him souvenirs, the smile never reaching his eyes, that wasn't technoblade leaving him a weapon and barely acknowledging him, that wasn't wilbur giving him instruments he couldn't use, trinkets he did not know off, not bothering to explain. tubbo's gift, the discs, were one of the only gifts he had ever received that held so much sincerity.)_

tommy gifted him a bee the next day, ignoring how hard it was to catch, because tubbo's smile was worth it. it would _always_ be worth it.

one day, while his ~~brothers and father~~ _neighbors_ are away, he and tubbo open the mailbox, and they find a letter to phil. it details a new smp, made by someone named dream, and an invitation, it held whitelisted cards, which allowed people to enter private smps. the two of them were obviously intrigued by it. _(they took two of the three cards)_

"an smp sounds fun." tubbo said, holding one of the cards, staring at it with wonder, "wonder how they're like?" he asks.

tommy shrugs, "i don't know, but we better leave soon." he murmurs, because maybe, just _maybe_ , if he went on his own adventure, he'd learn why phil, technoblade and wilbur loved them so much. he had grown up listening to all three of their adventures, maybe this smp would be _his_ adventure. his and tubbo's.

_(besides, maybe it would be better if he left his neighbors, maybe the reason they were going on so many adventures was because they felt awkward in their own home because someone that wasn't their family lived with them. that was fine, tommy didn't want to be a bother.)_

tubbo hums, tracing the golden lettering of 'philza minecraft' on the whitelisted card, "maybe we should leave now?' he suggests, and tommy stares at him, shock and disbelief in his face before a bright and wild smile makes it way.

"tubbo, you are so right."

tubbo beams.

the two teenagers spent their time packing their few items, making sure that everything they needed and everything they had was there, and by the dawn of the new day, they were ready to leave.

tommy looks back at their home, "i'm gonna miss this place." he says, and beside him, tubbo nods in agreement, taking tommy's hand in his.

as the two of them take a final glance in their once-home, ready to leave it all behind, they finally feel free.

the two teenagers smile, and they run, following the coordinates written on the whitelisted card, they leave the past behind and run towards the adventure awaiting them.

and if a family returns to find their youngest member missing and one whitelisted card, you can't say that they didn't have it coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo! prologue is pog!
> 
> explanations- about smps, they are basically separated from the real world and the only way to access them is through the whitelisted cards. the whitelisted cards have coordinates that lead to the portal, and you have to have a whitelisted card to be able to enter the portal for the first time, but the next time, you don't need to have the whitelisted card in your inventory because the system recognizes you already.
> 
> and the reason that they travel so much will be revealed in their interludes :eyes:
> 
> anyways, feel free to ask questions! i'll explain them.


	2. i.

# O N E

_❝the start of something new❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

the portal wasn't pretty, by any means. it was jagged green stone that looked like it could pierce them both if they touched it, the portal itself glowed a faint emerald green. and tubbo looked impressed, which would make sense, seeing as his outfit _was_ green-based.

"what do you think we should do now?" tommy asked, glancing over at tubbo.

he merely shrugs, "i don't know, why don't we look at the whitelisted cards?" he suggested, grabbing his card.

after carefully reading and rereading the card multiple times, tubbo pointed out something behind the card. an empty white text box with the words "ENTER GAMERTAG" before it.

"what's a gamertag?" tommy asks, tilting his head. 

tubbo only shrugged, "i don't know, maybe our names?" he suggests, still unsure of his answer.

"that makes sense, can you hand me a pen, tubbo?"

he rummages his bag for a few minutes before finally finding a pen and handing it over to tommy.

tommy smiles at him, "thanks tubbo." he says, before glancing at the card and starting to write.

"you should write tommy in it." tubbo says, grabbing another pen from his bag.

tommy snorts, "thanks, captain obvious." not looking at what he was writing. _(he writes tommyinnit)_

"you're welcome, sergeant sarcasm." tubbo quips, as he finishes writing 'tubbo' neatly on the text box.

when tommy looks back at his card and realizes what he had written, ("tubbo, you fucker!") he takes tubbo's card and adds a line on the bottom of a text box, ignoring tubbo's groans of annoyance.

tubbo rolls his eyes, "are you done now, tommy?" he asks, trying hard not to laugh as he looks at tommy's card, 'tommyinnit' written in tommy's messy handwriting.

tommy nods, "yeah tubbo, let's go in!" he exclaims, excited for the prospect of an adventure.

tubbo glances at the card and holds tommy's hand, worried that they might get separated once walking through the portal. as soon as tommy feels tubbo's hand on his, he proceeds to drag the older boy towards the portal, and they both enter, laughing as they do.

they find themselves in a land that was more nature than structure. sure, there were basic buildings, but they were scarce and very few. they looked around and realized that the whitelisted cards that they had had disappeared, replaced by communicators.

tommy and tubbo exchange glances before opening their communicators. 

` **tommyinnit joined the server  
tubbo_ joined the server**`

tommy glances at tubbo, who was trying hard not to laugh at his gamertag, and he scowls, "stop it tubbo! it's all your fault." he grumbled.  
tubbo makes a motion of wiping a tear from his face, grinning ear to ear, "i told you to put _tommy_ in it, not tommy _innit_."

tommy rolls his eyes and begins passionately arguing with tubbo, and tubbo playfully argues back.  
_("why would you even say that tubbo!" "it was funny at the time, besides, why did you put a line, uh, underscore, on mine?" "well, because...it was funny." "i just said that!" "yeah, well i said it too!")_

"ahem."

the two of them freeze as they hear an unfamiliar voice behind them. they had almost forgotten, so caught up in their childlike arguments, in their familiarity with each other, that they weren't home, they were in someone else's smp.

tubbo was the first to avert his gaze from tommy and glance at whoever had spoken. he raised his eyebrow, and before thinking, he said- "you have horrible taste."  
beside him, tommy screeches in laughter, "tubbo, you can't just say that!"  
"it's true tommy!" tubbo says, pointing at him, "his style is horrible, i mean, look at it!"

the aforementioned man was wearing a light green hoodie, almost neon-like, black pants, and a weird porcelain mask with a smiley face, and to top it off, he was wearing dirtied white sneakers. _(tommy had to agree, they were quite bad.)_

green hoodie man sighs, "who are you two?" he asked. he seemed really tired, tubbo and tommy should probably just take it easy on him. _(they didn't)_

"who are you?" tommy asks instead, ignoring green hoodie man's question.

green hoodie man sighs, "i asked you both first."

"well we asked you second." tubbo quips.

another sigh. "my name is dream, i'm the owner of this smp, you two?"

tubbo points at tommy and says, "this is my friend, tommyinnit, and i'm-"  
tommy glares at him at interrupts, "he's tubbo underscore, and he is a bitch."

dream raises an eyebrow, not even bothering to comment on the names "how did you two manage to get two of philza's whitelisted cards?" he asked, because after all, while dream and techno had a friendly rivalry, he had not heard of a tommy or a tubbo from the piglin hybrid.

tommy purses his lips, "i'm his neighbor, and tubbo is my best friend." he says, like it was obvious.

dream just shrugs and nods, "very well, now, come on. i'll give you a tour of the smp." and as he starts walking towards the rest of the smp, where most of the structures was, both of the young teenagers followed him without much question, he was, after all, the owner of the server that they were currently on.

and for a few days, it was calm. tommy and tubbo built houses across from each other, tommy with his dirt shack, that he was not really pleased with, and tubbo with his rustic home. they played games and met the rest of the server's members. _(both of them liked sapnap, punz and george really well. they didn't really get to interact much with the others, though ponk was pretty friendly to them.)_

it was peaceful, calm. _(they liked the calm.)_

the calm didn't last long.

a few weeks after joining the smp, they got into an altercation with dream about taxes. which was apparently money that you give to the government in exchange for living in a house that you built. which made no sense to tommy and tubbo.  
why would you pay people money to live in your house? 

it was one of the first ~~of many~~ altercations in the dream smp. 

"why is dream so obsessed with robbing a bunch of teenagers." tommy had asked, when everyone had gathered around their houses. they had all stifled laughter when they heard that and dream aimed a glare at him.  
dream sighs, "it's not that i'm robbing you tommy, it's just that you and tubbo need to pay taxes." he says, explaining it as calmly as he possibly could, maybe as a way to make both of them feel safe and comfortable.

"how do we know you aren't scamming us?" tubbo asks, "we don't even know what taxes are!"  
"yeah!" tommy added, "we've built houses before and we didn't pay any tax or whatsoever."

dream placed his fingers on his forehead, looking so done with the both of them, "both of you need to pay taxes, or i'll be forced to fight you two."

"then fight us, bitch." tommy snapped. 

so dream did.

the fight lasted two and a half hours, somehow, tommy and tubbo managed to win it and dream was forced to abolish the taxes. everyone was overjoyed with that and promised tommy that they would throw him the biggest party ever. tommy didn't know why the birthday thing was important, but everyone wanted to do that for him, so he would let them do it.

_(tommy's party was a two weeks later, and true to they're word, they threw him the biggest party ever. it was the most fun that tommy had ever had that he actually almost burst into tears, feeling so happy.)_

a week after tommy's party, everything was back to the way it was.

_(an argument)_

tubbo helped a little with tommy's house and it looked a bit better now.

_("i should be the one to go on the smp!")_

punz and sapnap helped them tame horses after the two desired to do so.

_("it was addressed to me, mate.")_

sam was helping tommy build a tower.

_("i was the one he was closest to!")_

even dream had not held a grudge for the battle they had over taxes.

_("that's cause you're the one who leaves the least!")_

ponk was helping tubbo with his building.

_("well you did something wrong too, stop being so holier-than-thou!")_

even alyssa stopped by sometimes.

_("boys, enough.")_

george was rarely there, but he was easy to tease for the both of them.

_("i'm going now.")_

tommy and tubbo stare at the sunrise from the bench, free and careless smiles on their faces.  
they were about to head off and do their work when their communicators beeped.

` **wilbursoot has joined the server** `

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> official chapter one! was a bit rushed due to my schoolwork, but i wanted to get it out today so :p
> 
> explanations - there's a reason that soot is still wilbur's last name and not minecraft, it will be explained in his interlude, but just know, that is a very important detail and ties in to why the three of them leave so much.
> 
> if you ask questions, i'll make sure to answer them.


	3. ii.

# T W O

_❝wilbur soot, big brother of the year?❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

` _ wilbursoot whispered to you: tommy where are you _ `

tommy glances over at tubbo, "should i tell him?" he asks, fiddling with his communicator.

next to him, tubbo shrugs, "it's up to you man."  
"but tubbo, i asked for your opinion." tommy deadpans.  
tubbo only tilts his head, a small smile on his face.

tommy groans as he begins typing on his communicator, "you're no help at all, tubbo."  
"didn't know i was supposed to be help." a scoff. "you're always supposed to help tubbo!" " _sure_..."

`_you whispered to wilbur soot: tubbo and i'll come get you from spawn  
wilbursoot whispered to you: okay toms_`

he sighs, "time to show him around i guess."

"why is wilbur even here?" tubbo asks as they both stand up from the bench, heading towards the immediate area of spawn.  
tommy looks at tubbo with an exasperated expression as they walked down the prime path, "tubbo, you are so stupid."

"it's a genuine question!" tubbo argues.

tommy shakes his head, "tubbo, the cards were originally from them, so maybe he came because he wanted to."  
tubbo then purses his lips, "why did he want you then?"  
tommy shrugged, "maybe because i used to live with them? we were neighbors tubbo, i'm probably the only one he knows here."

tubbo hums, "that is true.." he murmurs, as they walk through the community house, "

they entered the spawn area a few minutes later, and there they find wilbur soot, in his iconic yellow sweater and maroon beanie, he was facing away from tommy and tubbo and was slightly toying with the hem of his sweater.

"wilbur!" tommy calls out, and wilbur turns around. his eyes light up at the sight of tommy and he smiles brightly.  
"tommy!" he exclaims, spreading his arms, as if waiting for a hug. _(like tommy and wilbur used to do, when they were younger.)_  
tommy smiles back and gives wilbur a quick side hug _(wilbur frowns at how quick it is)_ before turning around and pointing towards the smp, excited to show wilbur around it.

"the smp is a really cool place, wilbur." tommy says, "come on, tubbo and i'll show you!"  
wilbur chuckles and smiles, ruffling both of their hairs, "of course, show me the way." he says.

both tommy and tubbo light up, beaming at the attention given to them as they began leading wilbur through the prime path, passionately pointing at the cool buildings and talking all about their time here. they were currently telling wilbur about the tax scrap- the battle they had with dream over taxes when wilbur suddenly decided to ask a question.

"are you ever coming home, tommy?"

they both freeze. "what do you mean, wilbur?" tommy asks hesitantly, as they strolled through the prime path.

wilbur shrugs, "just, back home, with phil and techno, are you planning on returning, toms?"

"like, returning for a few days or weeks, like you did?" tommy asks.

wilbur shakes his head, "no, like returning for good, tommy?"

tommy purses his lips, "i don't think so wil, this- this is my home now."

a soft smile. "okay tommy," hesitance. "will you be fine with me staying here as well?"

tommy nods, "yeah wil! i'd love for you to stay here!"

wilbur stays. _(he leaves a few weeks later, promising to return.)_

while wilbur was gone, the rest of the smp had taken to asking tommy about him.

ponk had been the first. _("hey tommy, who's this wilbursoot guy that's been hanging around you?" "oh, he's just my neighbor, we used to live together." "really?" "yeah.")_

the next was sam. _("wilbur is your...?" "neighbor." "..is he good at any redstone?" "not sure.")_

tommy was getting a bit tired of the questions. _(as was tubbo)_ and that was why tommy had said _this_ when the entirety of the dream team, badboyhalo, and punz showed up on their doorstep.

"tubbo, tell them that we're really tired of their shit." tommy says, making eyecontact with dream.  
next to him, tubbo says, "yeah! we are getting really tired of all your shits!" with so much enthusiasm.

dream's eyes glittered with amusement, "well, luckily for you two, we already know of wilbur, so we won't be getting on your nerves with the questions."

tommy sighs in relief. tubbo, on the other hand, squints at them all suspiciously, "wait, how do you know wilbur?"

"well, his brother, technoblade, is my rival." dream says, then he points towards sapnap and george, "these two know him by association." he adds, ignoring the pointed glare that sapnap gives him and the huff that comes from george.  
"we used to play in tournaments, technoblade managed to convince wilbur to participate in one, that's how i, and skeppy too, actually, know of him." bad explains.

tubbo and tommy then turn their gaze towards punz, who laughs and says, "i was 12 then, and he was, i dunno, a few years older than me? i was hired to kill him, but he taught me how to play the guitar instead." _("that's weird." tubbo says, and tommy couldn't help but to agree, it was very weird. they had asked punz to elaborate but he just shook his head and smiled at them.)_

"anyways, why are you guys here?" tommy asks, staring at them all agressively.

dream scratches his head, "well, we're actually here to ask if you or wilbur have any idea of if phil and techno still have plans to join the smp, because i could give them more cards, if they want to. i would ask techno, but he just keeps going on about potato wars."

tubbo and tommy can only shrug.  
"we don't really know big man."

dream sighs, "very well, sorry to bother you tommy." he says.

"that's fine."

and for a long while, thing were like that. very calm, there weren't many things happening. _(wilbur was still gone.)_

tubbo and tommy decided to start building a beehouse. it took them a lot of hours to build the house and even longer to get the bees, but at the end of the week, they had a beehouse and were satisfied with their work. 

_(but wilbur was still gone.)_

the next thing they did was transport villages from villages, they wanted to get some trades. they actually enlisted the help of sapnap, who accidentally killed a few of the villagers while transporting them.

_(wilbur was nowhere to be seen.)_

they were in the middle of having a horse race, trying to see who was faster, (it was tubbo) when wilbur had returned.

wilbur came back, a lucky go happy expression on his face, when he saw tommy, his eyes lit up.

"hey toms, how do you feel about starting our own country?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, brief time period here:
> 
> tommy, aged four, philza (20) starts leaving the house, his trips are usually between 4 hours to 18 hours  
> tommy, aged seven, techno (11) starts joining philza on his trips, the trips get longer, usually lasting 5 days to 2 weeks  
> tommy, aged ten, techno (14) starts joining competitions, wilbur (14) starts exploring the world, though he usually only leaves the house for 2 hours up to 5 hours, phil's trips turn into 1 month up to 6 months  
> tommy, aged twelve, techno (16) starts leaving for 5-6 weeks, wilbur (16) starts leaving for 3 days to 2 weeks, tommy meets tubbo  
> tommy, aged thirteen, phil (29) leaves for a full year, techno (17) starts leaving for 6-8 months, wilbur (17) starts leaving for 2-3 months  
> tommy, aged fifteen, phil (31) takes techno (19) on a year long trip, wilbur leaves for his own separate year long trip, tubbo and tommy go on the smp  
> tommy, aged sixteen, they are ending their year long trip, find out tommy and tubbo are in the smp
> 
> also, the whole punz almost killing wilbur for a hit is in my drafts, i might polish it a little and change a few things to make it fit in with this fic and post it as a sidestory :p
> 
> once again, don't forget to ask questions because i love questions haha (and yeah, i finally managed how to add colored text whoo!)
> 
> EXTRA: callahan asking tommy about wilbur
> 
> "....."  
> "what?"  
> *holds sign* who's he  
> "my neighbor"  
> "...."  
> "callahan?"  
> *holds sign* L  
> "callahan please-"


	4. iii.

# T H R E E

_❝i heard there was a special place...❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

tommy blinks, "a country?" he asks, hesitantly. he glances over at his right, at tubbo, but even he looked confused.

"yeah!" wilbur says, "have you seen the laws of this place?"

tommy and tubbo both shook their heads, they didn't even know that there were laws.

wilbur rolls his shoulders, "there's a few basic laws there, like paying taxes, no going to the end. understandable laws." then he grimaces, "then there are ridiculous laws, like a limit to how many potions you can make, the fact that dream managed to make it so that we only have two respawns, and the whole duel to the death for an item if both agree on it." he huffs, "utterly ridiculous." he adds.

tubbo and tommy exchanged looks. the thing about two respawns worried them. see, respawns basically bring people back to life after they died, and everyone usually had unlimited respawns, which meant that death was fake, and those unlimited respawns usually carried over into servers unless the admin of the server purposefully disabled the unlimited respawns. people who died in servers without unlimited respawns spawns back out of the server. they are unable to return to the server. but the worst thing about that was that since you had technically died, you no longer have unlimited respawns. and it tries to replicate the amount of respawns that the server you died in had. the only way to get unlimited respawns back was joining a server with unlimited respawns, but the moment you left the server, you would lose your unlimited respawns. that meant that if either of them died, they would only have two respawns for the rest of their lives.

they had heard about servers like this, of course, heck, tommy used to live with phil, and phil had died on one of his private servers, resulting in him losing his unlimited respawns and forced to live without any respawns.

wilbur glances at the both of them, "so, are you in?"

"yeah wil, me and tubbo are in!" tommy exclaims, ignoring tubbo, who was correcting him. _("it's tubbo and i, tommy" "tubbo, in the nicest way possibly, shut the fuck up")_

wilbur seemed very pleased with them both, "that's good." he says.

"is it just gonna be the three of us, in this new country?" tubbo asked, because three people wasn't nearly enough for an actual country.

wilbur shakes his head, "i actually have another person," he says, "he's part of the reason i was away for so long."

` ** itsfundy joined the server ** `

wilbur lights up, almost like a christmas tree that was set up correctly. "come on, let's collect fundy from spawn!" he exclaims, speedwalking through the prime path, heading towards spawn at a very swift pace, almostt like he had taken a swiftness potion.

tubbo and tommy followed at a more sedate pace

'do you know a fundy?' tubbo silently mouths at tommy, who's only reply is to shake his head and shrug.

tommy then walks a bit faster, prompting tubbo to do so as well, both of them catching up to wilbur, "uh, wilbur, who's fundy?" tommy asks.

"oh, he's my son."

they stop.

"your son?" tubbo repeats in a high pitched tone.

wilbur dismisses it without concern, like it was normal. "yes tubbo, my son."

"who let you have a son?" tommy asked, a look of disgust on his face.

wilbur huffs, "tommy, i'll have you know i am very good with children." he says.

neither tommy nor tubbo believed him.

"does y _our dad_ -" _(wilbur frowns)_ "-even know that you have a son?" tommy asks. 

wilbur hesitates, "no," he murmurs, "no he does not."

tubbo whistles, "man, that must be some awkward conversation in the future." he jokes.

"yeah, not looking forward to that one." wilbur exclaims, laughing as they walk through the community house.

they arrive at spawn a few moments later and tommy and tubbo are immediately shocked at what they see.

"he looks older than me and tommy." tubbo points out.

"he's a fox hybrid." tommy says, like it was more important. his eyes were wide open. "did you get it with a fox wilbur?" he asks.

wilbur snorts, "of course not, fundy's mother is a shapeshifter." he says, like it was obvious. "anyways, fundy, little champion, there's some people i want you to meet."

once fundy approached them, tommy immediately started talking.

"hello fundy, i'm tommy and the bitch next to me is tubbo-" _("hey!")_ "-ignore him, i used to live with your dad, you know, we were neighbors."

fundy looked over at wilbur inquisitively, only to find wilbur slightly frowning.

he shrugged it off and said, "nice to meet you both!"

wilbur sighs, but he plastered a smile on his face, probably pleased that the boys were getting along so well.

fundy had settled in considerably well, in the weeks that followed, as they tried to set-up the land that they would call their home. they had to find a nice spot for it, had to figure out how big it would be, the name of it _(they had had a huge argument about that, it took them a few days to settle on l'manberg)_ , all the important stuff like that. and during all that, wilbur had tried confronting tommy about why he stopped acting like they were brothers and kept referring to him as a neighbor.

"hey toms, can we talk-" "sorry wil, sapnap and i have this joust planned."

"tommy, are you-" "sam wanted me to try this new thing! i'll talk to you later wilbur."

"can we talk about-" "mr. soot, can i borrow tommy for a moment? thanks." "-tubbo!"

and of course.. he had to deal with tubbo as well.

"hey mr. soot, what was it like being tommy's neighbor?" 

"...tubbo please."

and like that, all his attempts were a failure, which caused him to stop making any more attempts at the following weeks. and so, everything went back to normal.  
they would just try to further their nation, no more confrontations, no more suprises. that was that. (for now)

until of course, they had gotten another surprise.

they were just making potions in the camarvan when wilbur called for them. 

"boys! come out here, there's someone i'd like you all to meet!"

fundy, tommy and tubbo all looked at each other before exiting the camarvan, heading towards wilbur and a man that they had never seen before.

he wore a plain white shirt with dark blue pants and had a cape colored with pink, purple and blue. he also had sunglasses that covered his eyes, which just made all three of them want to see it more.

wilbur smiles at them three, before turning his attention to the tall man, "these are tommy, tubbo and fundy. members of l'manberg."

"pleasure to meet you all." 

tommy's eyes widened at his deep voice, on his side, tubbo was asking questions about the man's deep voice and on his other side, fundy was trying to make his voice go deeper.

wilbur then turned to face all three of them, he points at the man and says-

"this is eret, he's a new member of l'manberg!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> about fundy's age - he was born when wilbur was 17, so 5 years ago, currently, he is 18. he stayed as a baby for a whole year, then aged 1 year after 6 months, 2 years after another 6, 3 years after another 6 months, 4 years after another 6 months, 5 years after another 6 months, then started aging a little slower, aging 2 years for a 1 year, and then 1 year. he ages normally now. so he is biologically 5 years old but physically 18.
> 
> they are still trans, but i won't put much attention to it because i am very scared of writing trans people incorrectly and getting hate for it.
> 
> feel free to ask questions!
> 
> also, i have classes tomorrow, so updates may get slower. having updates everyday is kind of burning me out a little bit, i had trouble writing this chapter because i kept getting burned out;-;
> 
> i have literally stared at ao3 for more than an hour and a quarter of those was me tapping my keyboards because my brain wasn't working anymore


	5. iv.

# F O U R

_❝where men could go and emancipate...❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

the first thing they did once eret joined was build walls. eret and wilbur formed blueprints for the walls and ordered the younger trio to collect the resources needed for the walls. it had taken tommy, tubbo and fundy a few days- almost a whole week, to collect the resources, and after collecting it all, they had immediately set on building the walls around their new country.

they were in the midst of building the walls when dream had shown up, in his absolute glory. 

"what are you three doing?" dream had asked, staring at all three of them, then he points towards the walls they were building, "what's this all about?"

tubbo beams, the first to reply, "we're starting our own country dream! it's gonna be so fun and very great."

a scowl appears on dream's face, which causes tubbo to hesitate.

"why are you starting a new nation?" dream asks, his expression wasn't one of a pleased man, it actually looked more like he was angry.

_why... why isn't he proud? i- i thought he would be proud._

tommy purses his lips and tubbo frowns as fundy looks away, not exactly close to the admin as tubbo and tommy were.

"do you _not_ want us to start a new country?" tommy asks, hesitantly, as if he was trying to gauge dream's reaction, to see what he should and should absolutely not say.

dream stiffly nods, "yes tommy, starting a new country means you're breaking away from the smp." _("it does?" tubbo murmured under his breath)_

_(tommy should know this- he had heard about it before, in the stories that phil used to make when he used to stay around. he should have known- after all, forming countries without the express permission of the admin always ended up badly. smpearth had been one of the tales that phil used to tell him about private servers. how the server had been torn apart after everyone started countries and waged war. of how the land was forsaken and how the server had been abandoned after that.)_

tommy bit his lower lip, "dream- dream, we didn't really mean to, it was harmless-" dream raises an eyebrow. "-well, _mostly_ harmless."  
_("fundy, can you go get wil and eret?" tubbo whispers, and fundy nods, running off to go find the two of them.)_

"you could have asked for my permission!" dream says, "i would have given it if you guys would have asked."

"can you give us permission to build a country now?" tubbo pipes up.

dream sighs and glares at tubbo for a few seconds, "no, and besides, you're supposed to ask it _before_ you build the country, not during!"

tommy was about to intervene, he really was, when he heard a voice behind him that made him pause.

"well hello there, dream."

dream glances up at the source of the voice, and there he finds wilbur.

"hello wilbur, i was actually just talking to tommy and tubbo here about this thing they're doing," he says, almost nonchalantly, "did you hear about it wilbur? they're starting a country!" dream adds, assuming that wilbur was siding with him.

wilbur clears his throat, "actually dream, _we_ 're starting a country, tommy and tubbo are with me."

dream stares at him in shock, before schooling his features into one that was blank, "really?"

"yes, really."

"hmm," he hums, "why would you do that, wil?"

wilbur's stare is so ice cold that tommy nearly shivers, "it's because you're being rather unfair with your rules here, dream."

a raised eyebrow. "can you explain how exactly, i'm unfair?" an unspoken challenge.

wilbur doesn't back down from the challenge. "your rule about only having a limited amount of potions."

"potions give an advantage, too much would be a bit unfair, and besides," he stares at wilbur right at the eyes, "why would people need so many potions? they would only need a lot if they were planning something."

wilbur grits his teeth, "what about the one with only two respawns?" he asks.

"i had to make this server interesting."

"what if someone lost all their lives then?" wilbur challenges.

dream only shrugged his shoulders, "i would bring them back if need to be."

"the rule about the duel to the death for an item?"

"i only added that rule because sapnap wanted me to, no one is actually gonna accept a duel to the death." dream replies.

` _ tubbo_ whispered to you: of course sapnap made the duel to death one _ `

wilbur scoffs, "and what happens if they do, then?"

` _ you whispered to tubbo_: god sapnap is such an idiot _ `

"then they would lose one of their lives, i guess." dream said, "what do you want me to say, wilbur?"

` _ tubbo_ whispered to you: he really is _ `

"i don't want you to say anything, dream." wilbur replies, "i want you to _do_ something."

he sighs, "and what do you want me to do?"

"revoke the laws i mentioned."

dream shakes his head, "i can't do that, the laws are there for a reason wilbur."

a huff. "a terrible reason." wilbur says.

"i'm not revoking those laws, wilbur." dream says sternly.

wilbur seemed to back down a little after after dream said that, in that tone. tommy wondered why he backed down.

wilbur seemed really exhausted, "then at least let us build our country?"

"you built this without my permission wilbur!" dream's hands were flailing everywhere by now, "this is _not_ allowed."

wilbur scoffs, "tough luck dream, i already wrote our declaration of independence."

dream scowls, "let me see the the declaration then, wilbur."

tommy had thought that wilbur would disagree, that wilbur wouldn't let dream see the declaration of independence. after all, they didn't really seem to be on friendly terms right now, they actually seemed to be on really bad terms right now. to his surprise, however, wilbur had agreed.

wilbur sighs, "fine, but let's discuss it on the camarvan."

"lead the way."

wilbur glances at eret, "you're in charge, eret, make sure that they don't do anything stupid." 

"what?" tommy speaks up, "why is eret in charge?"

"because he's the second eldest after me tommy." wilbur explains, before walking towards the camarvan, "dream, follow me."

as both of them walk towards the camarvan, eret glances at all three of them.

"you guys should probably go back to building the walls," he says, "i'll help!"

they reluctantly agree, and all four of them immediately start building the walls again, trying to copy the blueprints, eret having to correct them a few times.

a few hours later, the wall was half-way done, and wilbur and dream's talk had ended as well.

the talk didn't really go pleasant, tommy decided, as he stares at dream, obviously angered.

"what happened?" fundy had asked his father, but wilbur just shakes his head.

"nothing... nothing happened."

it didn't really seem like nothing to tommy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a bit of a boring chapter, is it? don't worry, there'll be more fun and action and drama in the next chapter!
> 
> as always, feel free to ask questions, i'll always answer them!


	6. v.

# F I V E

_❝the brutality, and the tyranny, of their rulers.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

they finish building the walls for their country the day after wilbur and dream's conversation. and by nighttime, tommy was a bit pissed off at wilbur for not telling him what happened when they talked, about what they had said to each other.

"wil, what did you and dream talk about?" tommy stares at the elder, and for once, there is seriousness in his voice.

a sigh. "i don't want to talk about it tommy." he says it with so much finality.

"but wil-"

wilbur lashes out, "i said no, tommy. can't you just listen!?"

"no," tommy stubbornly says, "i want you to tell me!"

wilbur says nothing, just glances at tommy, sighs, shakes his head, and walks away. _(wilbur is always walking away.)_

tommy stays standing there, curling his fists in anger.

it starts raining. and he is alone. _(he has always been alone.)_

he hears footsteps behind him, and he speaks before he can stop himself.

"i'm not a child, he doesn't need to keep secrets from me." tommy snaps. "he shouldn't treat me like-" his voice quivers, "-like i won't understand, cause i will! i will understand!"

the footsteps halt. and the person behind him speaks.

"i know you'll understand tommy," eret says, trying to calm the younger down, "and i know wilbur does too."

tommy started squeezing his wrists as his eyes welled up with tears, "it doesn't seem like it." he says, voice shaky in a brief moment of vulnerability. "it's- it's not fair!"

"no one ever said it was fair, tommy" eret replies, putting a hand on tommy's shoulders, as if to comfort him, "but you should give wilbur a chance, he's just trying to protect you."

"well, i can protect myself perfectly fine." his voice starts getting hoarser and louder, "i don't need _him_!"

eret stares at the boy who's back is turned against him. "well, it sounds to me like you're trying to convince yourself more than trying to convince us."

"that's not true." he argues, trying to seem angrier. _(his sadness seeps in his voice, and eret takes notice of it.)_

"you know, he didn't tell me either." eret says, almost nonchalantly.

tommy purses his lips, "then shouldn't you also be mad at him? he's keeping secrets from the rest of us."

eret hums, "not really, because i know he has a good reason, and a good reason is all he really needs."

tommy is silent, for a moment, contemplating.

eret pats him in the head, "you're still young, tommy, there's still so much to learn."

tommy then turns around and glares at eret through teary eyes, "i'm not a child, eret, and i already learned everything i needed to myself." and after a moment's hesitation, "-bitch."

he only laughs, "sure thing, tommy. now wipe those tears, we need to get back to the camarvan, it's raining!"

after tommy wipes his tears, they race towards the camarvan in laughter.

tommy begins to really like eret.

_(the morning after, wilbur apologizes to tommy about not telling him, then going of on a tangent of why he wouldn't tell them. as wilbur is ranting, tommy sneaks a glance at eret, who nods. tommy forgives wilbur.)_

that afternoon, fundy starts a campfire, and they think of what to do.  
they've given their country a name, they've built their walls, what else should countries do?

"what about an anthem?" tubbo suggests, and wilbur smiles.

"i'll go get my guitar-" he says, "you guys stay put."

"of course we would stay put, where else would we go?" tubbo asks, and fundy stifles laughter.

tubbo scowls, "it's not that funny." he says.

"it really isn't." tommy agrees.

_(that causes the three younger to playfully argue as eret tries to make them stop.)_

"i'm back!" wilbur says, causing them to stop arguing, "let's make our anthem now!"

"let's!" tubbo adds excitedly.

wilbur starts playing a tune, and like clockwork, the rest of them started suggesting lines for their new country's anthem.

_"i heard there was a special place..."_

wilbur made the first line, and they all collectively agreed that it was good.

"they would- where they would be-" tubbo pauses, "where they would go and..." _("emancipate?" wilbur suggests.)_ "yeah!"

_"where men could go and emancipate."_

eret smiles, feeling at peace.

_"the brutality, and the tyranny, of their rulers."_

"those are some big words, eret." tommy mutters under his breath.

and eret replies, "thank you, tommy."

"well, this is our- shit," tommy pauses, "well, our 'ome is..." he purses his lips, "well, this place is..." he huffs, "wait- stop laughing at me tubbo!" he snaps. (it takes him five minutes to think of a lyric)

_"well, this place is real, you needn't fret."_

wilbur then glances at fundy, "go on fundy, you can do it!" he encourages. 

and fundy- he hesitates. "with wilbur, tommy, tubbo and eret?" he asks. 

silence, then- 

"what about you fundy?" tubbo asks, and fundy could only shrug. 

wilbur hums, "what about- with wilbur, tommy, tubbo, fundy, eret?" he asks. 

"sounds good to me big man." tommy says, as eret gives a thumbs up. 

fundy smiles brightly, mouthing 'thank you' at his father, in which wilbur returns it with a soft and fond smile. 

_"with wilbur, tommy, tubbo, ~~fundy,~~ **fuck** eret."_

wilbur smiles at the four of them, strumming his guitar once more.

_"it's a very big and-"_

tubbo coughs. 

_there is smoke everywhere._

"our campfire shouldn't have this many smoke!" tommy protests, "what the fuck!?" he screams. 

wilbur pulls fundy closer to tubbo, "stay safe and together, you two." he tells them, and fundy nods. 

"guys!" eret calls out, "the forest outside l'manberg is on fire!" 

tommy and wilbur exchange glances, then run up to where eret is, and they stand at shock at what they see. 

the whole forest was on fire, and there was dream, who had been so kind, and sapnap, who had helped them so much, standing in the midst of the burning forest, holding flint and steel. 

and dream- dream was shouting now. 

tommy doesn't want to hear this, not at all. 

" _WE_ ARE AT WAR. WE HAVE NO MERCY. _NO MERCY_. FOR YOU!" 

tubbo is staring at the forest in horror, watching as some of the bees who lived in that forest died to the flames. beside him, fundy glares at dream and sapnap. 

tommy curls his hands into a fist.  
he wants to stop them. he wants to come down there and face dream and sapnap, because what they were doing wasn't right. 

eret stops him. so does wilbur. 

"don't do anything stupid, tommy." wilbur whispers in his ear.

"but-"

wilbur gives him a look, and tommy stops struggling, helpless to watch as dream burns down the forest around l'manberg.

"I WANT TO SEE WHITE FLAGS, _WHITE FLAGS_ OUTSIDE YOUR BASE, BY TOMORROW, AT DAWN, OR YOU ARE ******DEAD**!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and yeah! that's chapter 5!
> 
> eret comforting tommy pog? it's a bit of some character development for eret + making eret and tommy close to each other because we all know what happens haha
> 
> also, slight fundy charac development! yay!
> 
> i will admit, i forgot dream's epic declaration of war and had to search it up xD, in my defense, i wasn't watching the dream smp back then, i was too busy playing valorant.
> 
> george not found, probably sleeping :p
> 
> also, did you guys like me adding the song lyrics of the l'manberg anthem as quotes? it's a bit of foreshadowing, the quotes are foreshadowing the chapters, like, sometimes i'll make it lyrics, sometimes i'll make it something that the character says or is described, or sometimes i'll make it something humorous that was in my original drafts of the chapter xD
> 
> kinda struggling with the l'manberg war here, what did they do next lmao
> 
> also, after this chapter, i will be making another fic related to this one where it explores the chapters of this fic but seen in another point of view. like, dream team's pov in the l'manberg thing, tubbo's pov in the prologue. you know, stuff like that!


	7. technoblade's interlude.

# I N T E R L U D E

_❝blood for the blood god❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

a piglin hybrid stands tall at his private island in one of hypixel's public servers when his communicator started vibrating.

he grabs his communicator and glances at the message written in it. _(maybe it's an update on his youngest brother-)_

` **dream** : your brother is annoying me. `

_ tommy? TOMMY! what are they doing? maybe it's wilbur. E. guys no it cant be wilbur. it must be tommy! you should ask him which brother it is. YEAH! the dono is right. donoright!! follow the dono!_

technoblade sighs, "fine chat, i'll ask dream."

` **technoblade** : which brother?  
**dream** : are you trying to pretend wilbur doesn't exist? that's pretty harsh techno, he's your only brother. `

technoblade furrows his eyebrows, "that's strange..." he muttered, "why would dream think that wilbur is my only brother?"

_ what's going on? DREAM SUS DREAM SUS. you have another brother? E. of course he does. tommy! maybe tommy left the smp? where would he go though? something's wrong, you should tell phil. TELL HIM ABOUT TOMMY! no! don't tell him about tommy! IS TOMMY GONE? dream is so sus. JOIN THE SMP! who cares? just farm potatoes. _

` **technoblade** : k.  
**technoblade** : what did he do this time? `

wilbur wasn't his most problematic brother, not really. he was the more calm one, really. out of all three of them, technoblade's twin brother was the most responsible and calm one. wilbur had always been praised as a sweet and charismatic young man, and no one believed him when he said that he was the twin brother of the bloodthirsty technoblade.  
tommy, on the other hand, was what techno would call a problematic brother. leaving the house without telling anyone, techno hasn't even seen tommy use one of the weapons that he gave tommy. and he had taken it from his enemies to gift to his younger brother because someone told him that gifting things to someone you love shows that you care for them, and he knew that tommy wanted to learn to protect himself so he gave him weapons. _(wilbur received armor from his fallen enemies and phil had received whatever golden apples he could get.)_

` **dream** : he started a country. in my smp. `

technoblade raises an eyebrow. he knows what countries mean for servers, he's heard of smpearth, a famous server that delved deep into chaos and wars because of countries. he knew that wilbur knew of it too, heck- wilbur loved smpearth! it was probably one of his favorite stories, out of the ones phil would tell. why would he start a country if he knew exactly what countries were like? it just, seemed strange and peculiar to him.

` **dream** : and get this, he managed to convince people to join him in his new country, ridiculous! `

that gained his interest, because one of them might be tommy. one of the people that could possibly join wilbur in his new country was tommy, their littlest brother.

` **technoblade** : who did he manage to get on his side? `

after sending it and not getting a response in the first few minutes, technoblade was starting to get a little bit impatient. what was taking dream so long to answer him?

_ impatientblade. impatientblade. E. LOL TECHNO SO IMPATIENT. we want answers too!! be patient. why u so impatient? IMPATIENTBLADE! IMPATIENTBLADE. technoimpatient. _

....and now chat was spamming impatientblade. brilliant.

"chat, i'm not impatient." techno refutes. "i'm not- bruuuuh."

` **dream** : tommy, tubbo, someone named eret, and get this. his fox son, fundy. `

"aha! so tommy is in the server and with wilbur. that's good to know." techno mutters to himself, "tubbo- seems familiar, i don't think i know an eret though, and-" he pauses. then slowly types in a response.

` **technoblade** : son?? as in, actual son? and it's a fox? `

"it's probably not his actual son," techno tells himself, "it's probably nothing-" 

dream responds. and he looks at his communicator.

` **dream** : yeah, i know.  
**dream** : your brother is weird. `

"huuuh?" techno exclaims in shock, "how did he get away with this without me and phil knowing?" he cries out, "how did wil-" he stops talking to type.

` **technoblade** : i know dream, i used to live with him  
**technoblade** : but i know you didn't just come here to whine about that  
**technoblade** : what do you want from me? `

there. just, ignore the thing about wilbur's son. _(wilbur was gonna be in trouble with phil for that one.)_

` **dream** : come to the smp and sort your brother out?  
**dream** : i already have a whitelisted card ready for you `

"okay good, dream ignored the thing about wilbur's son too." technoblade muttered, before furrowing his eyebrows at what dream had written.

` **technoblade** : i'm currently in a war dream. `

technoblade stares at his communicator for a second, "if he says he doesn't know anything about my war, i'm revoking our rivalship. i'm serious, chat."

` **dream** : oh yeah, your potato war.  
**dream** : so you're not joining the smp? `

_ technojoin! JOIN THE SMP!! smp sounds really fun techno! you should probably join! DON'T JOIN! that's strange. JJOIN! JOIN! JOIN! but the potato war- he should just join. no techno don't join! JOIN! _

"chat, shut up-"

` **technoblade** : maybe after the potato war. `

"look chat, it seems like stalling, but i'm actually serious about joining after the potato war, i swear." techno says. _(chat doesn't really believe him.)_

` **dream** : okay techno, bye.  
**technoblade** : bye dream. `

_ TELL PHILZA. tell phil. DADZA SHOULD KNOW. techno please tell dadza. dadza deserves to know! something is wrong in the smp. DADZA DADZA DADZA. what is he gonna tell phil anyways? E. why does he need to tell phil? because DADZA pog. chat shut up challenge. PHILZA POG! _

technoblade huffs and scrolls through his communicator, "yeah yeah chat, i'm telling phil, now can you guys shut up for a minute?"

` _you whispered to ph1lza: i have something to tell you, it's about tommy and wilbur._ `

` **[ERROR! MESSAGE CANNOT BE SENT! EITHER THE PERSON YOU ARE CONTACTING HAS BROKEN THEIR COMMUNICATOR OR THEY ARE IN A PRIVATE WORLD AND CANNOT BE CONTACTED.]** `

technoblade sighs, "phil must be in one of his hardcore servers, i'll just send him a letter instead." he murmurs, grabbing a pen and paper.

_"dear phil,"_ he starts writing, telling phil all about what dream told him, of his suspicions, and he asks what they should do, in the end, he writes-

_from your son, technoblade._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey look guys, an interlude! look at this- there's gonna be an interlude at every five chapters whoo (and no, the prologue doesn't count as a chapter.)
> 
> technoblade characterization! isn't this cool, very pog? idk how to write techno haha-
> 
> techbur twins go brrr...
> 
> did you guys like how i did chat? i took some inspiration from Rewind for the chat, since i had a bit of trouble with that.
> 
> also, since i posted the side stories today, how does it feel to have double updates? writing two chapters messed with my mind so much.
> 
> EXTRA: how technoblade and wilbur became twins.
> 
> technoblade is a piglin hybrid from the nether, right? and he doesn't really have a birthday, so during wilbur's birthday, mumza asked techno when his birthday was, when techno said that he didn't have one, wilbur ordered dadza to light the candles again so that techno could blow them out. after that, they both shared the same birthday and started calling themselves twins.


	8. vi.

# S I X

_❝well this place is real, you needn't fret.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

_there is smoke everywhere. a blazing fire rages in the forest surrounding the walls of their new country, 'sapnap started this,' he tells himself, but it is hard to imagine- sapnap, who has helped him countless times, sapnap- "call me big brother, tommy! you too, tubbo, call me big brother!"._

sapnap. who he can no longer trust. _("i can't believe he would do this..." tubbo murmured. tommy hugs him.)_

_a loud voice echoes, words aimed at them with the purpose of being a threat. it is dream who says those words. 'no mercy.' his once big brother shouts. the one that taught them most of the things they learned once they got on this server. dream, who- "if someone ever hurts you, just tell me, okay? i'm the admin, i'll take care of you two."_

dream. who no longer trusts him. _("dream- i just want to talk!" the mask stares at him, so detached. dream turns away from him.)_

tommy stares out at the decimated forest, what once was a beautiful and lushful green landscape, and he thinks. he thinks of what he could have possibly done wrong for them to do what they did. shouldn't they feel proud? dream, sapnap, george- they told him stories of how it was like to run servers, isn't he practically doing the same thing?  
as he mulls around, trying to figure out what went wrong, footsteps could be heard from behind him.

"tommy."

he nearly screams, "wilbur!" he cries out, turning around to stare at the older boy, "you scared me, you fucker!" he curses him out.

wilbur laughs, "tommy, you were so easy to scare, just sitting there!"

tommy scowls, "what do you want, wil?" he asks.

"everyone else is at the campfire," wilbur says, "i've kind of got a surprise, toms." he adds.

that piqued his interest, "a surprise?" tommy asks.

wilbur nods, "yeah, a surprise, now come on!" he says, leading tommy towards the campire, where the others were already seated.

tommy takes a seat next to tubbo, who smiles brightly next to him.

wilbur sits beside fundy, glancing at the other four members of l'manberg. "you guys remember what happened yesterday, right?" he asks.

beside him, tommy feels tubbo shift in his seat, he sneaks a glance at the older boy and finds tubbo looking away, probably uncomfortable.  
eret sighs and nods, while fundy purses his lips and looks down.

"no one could really forget it, wilbur." tommy finds himself saying, "is that why you gathered us?" he asked, "are we planning revenge?"

eret raises an eyebrow, "revenge?" he echoes, in which tommy nods.

"no, tommy." wilbur says, almost reprimanding, in a way, "revenge-" he scowls, "it's not good, it consumes a person's being tommy, it destroys people. you-" a frustrated sigh. "-you don't want revenge."

"they just destroyed the forests around our country, wilbur!" tommy nearly shouts, "what are we supposed to do about that, nothing!?" he adds, angered.

a shift. someone stands up, "tommy, calm down." eret says, "nothing good will come out from infighting." he says.

"i say we just let them fight it out." tubbo suggests, "to relieve some stress."

fundy looks at him like he was crazy, "what? no! we should not do that, are you insane?" _("maybe.")_ "-tubbo, what the- nevermind." he shakes his head.

"i didn't mean nothing." wilbur says, "we obviously aren't going to do nothing, tommy."

"then what are we going to do!?"

wilbur glances at tommy with soft eyes, "plant trees would be a good start." he says. causing fundy and eret to stare at him in disbelief.

tommy huffs, "they would just burn it again," he retaliates, "tubbo back me up."

"to be fair to tommy," tubbo says, "it would be very easy for them to just burn the place again."

tommy scowls, "we need to fight back!" he insists.

wilbur sighs, "what we need to do, is to use words." he explains, "violence will only gain us enemies-"

"-but they're already our enemies!" tubbo interrupts, almost outraged.

fundy purses his lips, "...i don't think we're ready for full out war against them though," he says, and well- it was true.

wilbur smiles at his son, "thank you fundy, at least someone understands." he says.

tommy huffs, his arms crossed above his chest, tubbo doing the same.

"if we don't fight back, l'manberg will be nothing but a crater in the end." tommy argues, using exaggeration to further his statement.

wilbur softly smiles, "but we will fight back tommy." he tells the younger.

"how?"

"with our _words_." wilbur says. earning a confused look from tommy.

"our words!?" tommy complains, causing eret to sigh.

"wilbur is right," eret says, "nothing good really comes from countries declaring war. especially if unprovoked." eret had, after all, heard all about smpearth, of the countless countries and the even more countless wars.

tubbo scowls, "but they were the ones who attacked us! we have to attack them!" _("yeah!")_

wilbur sighs, "tommy."

"yes, wilbur?" he asked, frustration obvious in his tone.

he sighs, "i don't believe that violence is the best answer, i will always believe that using our words is better," _(a scoff. "of course you do, you prick.")_ "-but, i am allowing you to gain materials and resources for war."

tommy's eyes glittered in excitement.

"but, we will not attack unprovoked, understand?" wilbur adds, sternly.

all four of them nod in agreement.

wilbur smiles, "now, i have something for all of you." he says, causing them all to glance at each other.

"since we're now a country, i decided to get us all uniforms!" he exclaims, handing them all boxes.

inside the box, was an outfit that would later be referred to as the famous revolutionary outfit, but for now, it was nothing special, just another outfit to symbolize their unity.

tubbo smiles, "it looks really cool!" he exclaims.

"why is mine different?" fundy asks, looking at his, which had more vibrant colors.

"who cares?" tommy asked, grabbing both of them and dragging them away, "let's get changed!"

as wilbur stares at the younger trio with a fond smile, eret glances at his communicator, a confused expression in his face as he glances at the message he received.

"wilbur, i need to go do something." eret says, and wilbur nods, waving him off.

eret glances at his communicator again as he exits l'manberg's border, a thousand questions raging on his head as he heads towards the community house.

` _ georgenotfound whispered to you: meet me at the community house, i need to tell you something _ `

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _laughs nervously_  
>  i was listening to punz on his alt twitch while writing this so, pacing might seem off a few times because i was in catJAM mode lmao. 
> 
> god i love foreshadowing, it's one of the best things ever.
> 
> did you guys like this chapter? i promise there'll be more action at the next chapter, i swear.   
> i also did less describing at this chapter? i only had describing at the very start of the chapter, so yeah!
> 
> the next chapter (or two) might be the ending of the l'manberg revolutionary war and heading straight to the election arc. so yeah, election arc, whoo!


	9. vii.

# S E V E N

_❝with wilbur, tommy, tubbo, fuck eret.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

the war had officially started, but the actual war- the attacks- it began a week later.

it doesn't start with a bang, like most wars do, it starts quiet. _(too quiet-)_

it starts with the trees _inside_ the areas of l'manberg, with them being set in fire. it is reminiscent of the deadly flames outside l'manberg who had burnt down every single tree outside their borders- _(wilbur and fundy replanted them, but they had been burnt down before they even managed to grow.)_  
it starts with alyssa being found within their borders, and in rage, tommy and tubbo had chased her out.  
it ends terribly. _(all wars do.)_

"do you think alyssa burned the trees down?" tubbo asks, as the both of them sprinted towards her, crossing into dream smp territory.  
beside him, tommy scowls, "if she did, she's gonna have to pay for it." he muttered, sprinting faster, trying to catch up.

_(if it were a week ago, he wouldn't have believed that alyssa would do this, he wouldn't have believed that sapnap, dream or george could do this. but now- tommy is starting to see them as enemies that cannot be trusted. brothers no longer, just enemies on opposite sides.)_

"leave me alone!" alyssa shouts behind her, running faster, as to not get caught.

"no!" tommy replies, "you burnt down the trees, alyssa!"

"i didn't"

tubbo huffs, "don't lie to us!"

alyssa doesn't respond, instead, she turns a sharp left, exiting what was once the street that tommy and tubbo had once lived in before l'manberg, but had no been mostly left untouched. _(sometimes, dream, sapnap and george would go there, at the homes that tommy and tubbo had proudly made.)_

as alyssa hurried down the stairs and tommy and tubbo moved to follow her, the entirety of the dream team, as well as punz, appeared in front of the two of them, as if they were defending alyssa from the both of them.

tommy and tubbo skidded to a halt, tommy aiming a glare at alyssa from behind the dream team.

"what are you two doing here?"

tommy shifts his gaze from alyssa to dream, who had spoken. he stares at the porcelain mask and the smiley face that was on it, somehow, it seemed so cold and distant, it didn't seem as warm as it did, before he and tubbo had joined l'manberg. in a moment of hesitance, he glances at sapnap, george and punz, who all had varying expressions of indifference.

tubbo takes a deep breath, and he takes the lead, "we found alyssa inside l'manberg's walls, and the trees were on fire, so we chased her out because we think she did." he explains.

george raises an eyebrow, "then why are you still chasing her?" he asks, "you're no longer in your territory, you're in _our_ territory now." he said rather pointedly, "in fact, you've been in our territory for quite a while now." he adds.

tommy arches his eyebrows, and glares at george, "because we need to catch her, obviously, you fuckers, you absolute-"

"tommy, shut up."

his attention snaps to dream, and he could feel the icy demeanor that the older man had.

"we can do this the easy way," he says, "you could leave," dream continues, "run back to your country."

in a burst of courage, "we're not leaving." tommy says, interrupting dream.

"the hard way it is, then." dream says, and the four of them lunge at the duo.

tubbo yanks tommy and immediately drags him back towards l'manberg, "we should have picked the easy way!" tubbo says, as they run.

they run and they run and they run and slowly, the dream team were catching up to them.

it is not until they were safely inside l'manberg's walls that they stop running, trying to catch their breath.

"what's going on here?" wilbur asks, glancing at their enemies, who stood outside their walls.

as dream explained what was happening, fundy and eret exited the camarvan to join them, and they only heard the last part of what dream said.

"-will blow up l'manberg with a piece of TNT." and as he says, he puts down a singular piece of TNT. _(and while his face is still covered by the mask, tommy couldn't help but feel a shiver down his spine.)_

"what is dream planning?" tubbo whispers to his ear, but tommy does not know, all he can do is shrug.

wilbur stares at the singular TNT they placed on they placed at the ground, and he scoffs, as if to say, 'i'm not scared of your one piece of trinitrotoluene.'

"independence, or death." he begins, tommy, tubbo, fundy and eret standing behind him, "if we get no revolution, then we want nothing, we would rather _die_ than give in to you and join you smp." he finishes.

"we will light the TNT wilbur," dream warns, the rest of his allies standing away.

wilbur scoffs, "one piece of TNT isn't gonna destroy l'manberg, dream."

dream shrugs, "suit yourself." he says, and lights the TNT.

it explodes, and so does the ones that were hidden and underground, throwing the nation into turmoil.

there are multiple explosions and there is chaos and shouting everywhere and so much _smoke_. _(since when did l'manberg have bombs beneath their land?)_

"what are we gonna do now?" tubbo asks, and as wilbur was about to speak.

"follow me, gentlemen." eret says, walking towards a one of their hills, brushing aside the dirt to reveal a door, "i've been preparing something," he says, opening the door to reveal a tunnel, "something that could help us win the war." 

wilbur looks impressed, "lead the way then." he says, as eret enters the tunnel, the rest of them doing the same.

"this way, gentlemen!" eret says in hushed whispers, leading them through a tunnel, "i'm _excited_ to show you!"

the rest of them follow along, trying hard not to make too loud of a noise.

"they will never suspect a thing." eret tells them. _(who is 'they', tommy wonders later, was it the dream team, or was it them who had never suspected a thing.)_

he leads them upwards some stairs, and into a room with a sign above it, naming it as the 'final control room'.

they all looked at it in awe and shock, because they never even knew that eret was doing something like this. and tommy smiles, because maybe this, this could help them win.

the final control room was made out of some sort of black material, _(blackstone, tommy realizes later)_ and there were five chests in it, each of them labelled with their names. what interested tommy the most though, was this button in the center of the room.

as the rest of them went over to their chests, tommy instead glances at the button, "what does this button do?" he asks, glancing over at eret.

_"wait, there's nothing in the chests-"_

eret pushes it, and something- _(the walls)_ open up, and chaos ensues.

"down with the revolution boys," _("what?")_ "it was never meant to be." he says, as the dream team ambush them.

in the midst of the chaos, wilbur could be heard- "you traitor!"

` ** tubbo_ was slain by sapnap ** `  
` _** tubbo_ has two lives left remaining. **_ `

tubbo's death doesn't register at his mind as he hear's wilbur's hoarse screams, telling them all to _get out_.

so tommy tries, he looks around wildly and he _runs_. trying to book it out of here, when-

` ** tommyinnit hit the ground too hard whilst trying to escape from dream ** `  
` _** tommyinnit has two lives left remaining. **_ `

not even a second later, it is followed by-

` ** wilbursoot was slain by punz ** `  
` _** wilbursoot has two lives left remaining. **_ `

and as tommy respawns back at the camarvan, he glances at his communicator just in time for-

` ** itsfundy was slain by georgenotfound ** `  
` _** itsfundy has two lives left remaining. **_ `

"are you guys okay?" wilbur asks, hands shaking as his son finally respawns after a few seconds.

tubbo bites his lip, "we- we're fine, wilbur." he murmurs.

"they'll pay for this, okay?" wilbur whispers, "they'll-"

tommy curls his fists and moves, ready to leave the camarvan.

"-tommy?"

he ignores wilbur and exits the camarvan, the rest following behind him. and lo and behold, there is eret, on the walls that they built, alongside the dream team.

"eret, how could you?" wilbur says, the first to speak.

tubbo, near tears, shouts, "eret, i farmed with you for hours-"

eret laughs, "i saw the better deal, gentlemen!" he says.

_(there is rain, and a man comforts a teenager. he says many things, inspiring him to- ...no more.)_

"it sounds to me, like you're trying to convince yourself, rather than convince us." tommy says, mirroring his words.

eret stares at him, "a good reason is all i need, tommy." he replies, and tommy grits his teeth at that.

"eret." he glances at him, "eret, listen to me-" tommy says, his voice full of unbridled rage, "and i mean this in the nicest way possible-"

"you fucked up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god i don't know how to write action scenes, so yeah- 
> 
> i was once again watching punz in his alt twitch. catJAM mode is now my default mode lmao.
> 
> this chapter lowkey sucks, i felt terrible writing this haha, but hey! look at how far we've come here! (also i really wanted to end the l'manberg revolutionary war before 10 chapters because i have to write a lot of arcs and i can't do 10 chapters per arcs, i'd die!)
> 
> haha, that eret and tommy bonding worked out so well, right?
> 
> is dream a bit ooc? not sure i like how cold i made him (even though he's faking it), i kinda got influenced by dream in his most recent arcs sooooo..
> 
> if i got the order of events or lines wrong dont @ me, this is my canon now, i make the rules now.
> 
> also i tried to make this more action-y so less describe-y of the words! but the chapters that won't have that much action on them, i will describe more, i promise! i just have a lot of trouble describing action scenes so no explain-y words for this chapter.
> 
> also, sorry for the lack of fundy! i've been trying to gauge how his personality was at this arc, but at one of the later arcs, where i know how he acts, he'll be more prominent there.
> 
> trying to write multiple characters interacting feel so awkward because you don't want them to speak in a pattern but you also don't want some of them to not speak- i somehow hate writing conversations with multiple people.


	10. viii.

# E I G H T

_❝it's a very big and ~~not~~ blown up l'manberg.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

dream, sapnap, george, punz and eret stand atop the walls, looking around, as if they were surveying the damage that they had caused l'manberg. tommy curls his fists and glares up at them.

"you should give up," dream says, and though the mask is concealing his face, tommy can tell- he is smug. that only makes him more angry. 

wilbur's hands are balled into fists, and his shoulders are tense, tommy gives him a side glance, and he speaks- "why don't we use our words, dream?" he says, as if suggesting tea to a friend.  
tommy and tubbo look at him incredulously, and fundy sighs.

dream moves one of his hands underneath his chin, "words, wilbur?" he asks, "yes, let's use our words." he looks down at all of them, "you should use your words to surrender."

wilbur frowns, "i'm afraid, i really can't do that, dream."

dream takes out his crossbow and loads it with an arrow, before aiming it at their general direction. "let me try again," he says, "surrender."

tubbo takes out two iron swords, handing one to tommy, _("tubbo, how do you have swords?" "i was the first to respawn, remember? as soon as i respawned, i went to one of our supplies chest and was able to craft two swords, i also grabbed a spare bow and a stone axe." "tubbo, you are such a genius.")_ the aforementioned stone axe was given to fundy, leaving the bow and what few arrows tubbo had _(barely sixteen arrows- but it will be enough.)_ to be wilbur's.

"no." wilbur says, newfound confidence surging as he glances at his allies, "i'm afraid we will not surrender."

a pause, then-

dream aims the crossbow at tubbo and he _shoots_. _("tubbo-")_ it felt so quick and tommy felt like he couldn't do anything, _(so helpless, do something do something do something-)_ and fundy yanks tubbo out the way, the arrow flies past his cheek, barely hitting him and it hits the ground. tubbo stares at the arrow in shock, and he slowly raises a hand towards where the arrow had grazed it, and when he removed his hand, a liquid red substance was at his fingers.

wilbur aims an arrow at dream, and in response, he loads his crossbow once more and aims it at tommy instead. a second passes. then another, and another. then wilbur drops the arrow, looking sullenly at the ground.

"dream," wilbur says, voice heavy, "we surrender."

the younger three stare at him, disbelief and shock obvious in their expressions.

"what-" tommy steps forward, placing a hand on wilbur's shoulder and yanking him firmly to make the older face him, "what- what are you doing? what are you _saying_ , wil?" he asks, voice almost desperate.

l'manberg- l'manberg was his new home now, he can't lose it, why would wilbur, why would he ever- 

wilbur looks at him with fond eyes and a fond smile and he wants to be angry, "i'm doing what i need to do, tommy." he says.

"no. you're not." tommy's eyes are filled with anger, and he glances at the dream team, at punz, at eret- at the five of them who stand atop their walls, looking smug as if they had won. _(they hadn't. they hadn't they hadn't theyhadn't-)_ he wouldn't let him.

dream laughs, "i'm afraid that you are surrendering, tommy." he says, the slight tilt in his voice suggesting the fact that he was smiling.

"dream- dream, yeah, you know what, you know what, dream?" tommy says, voice full of anger as he walks forward, towards the walls. _(wilbur moves as well, trying to catch up with the storm that is tommy.)_  
tommy aims a finger towards dream, "why don't we fight right now dream?" _("tommy-")_ "yeah, _why_ don't we fight right now dream-" _(wilbur is closer now.)_  
his gaze is full of anger and wrath and so _so_ red, "why don't we have a one by one duel dream? let's have a bow duel dream-" 

wilbur places a hand on tommy's shoulder and pulls at him, making the younger turn around, "tommy, calm!" he says, as he puts both of his hands on tommy's shoulders. wilbur stares at this young man _(teenagerteenagerteenager he's just a teenager why don't they-)_ and he whispers, "your passion will get you nowhere tommy, use your wits instead."

tommy stops, eyes widening as he stares at wilbur. his shoulders are still tense and he is still angry, he still wants to duel dream and fight for l'manberg-

wilbur looks away from tommy and raises his gaze to dream, "dream," he greets, "while we may had our disagreements, i assure you, tommy does not speak for me, what he says is-"

"i'll take the duel."

wilbur freezes, "what?" he asks, "i'm sorry dream, can you repeat that for me?"

"i said, i'll take the duel," dream repeats, "one of the rules did say something about a fight to the death if both parties agreed."

_(tommy doesn't realize this until much later- dream was giving him an out, the rule stated that both parties had to agree to duel, he didn't have to agree.)_

tommy shrugs wilbur's hands off of him and turns around to face dream, "i agree." he says.

"then it's settled then," dream hums, "on the bridge, as the sun sets, we duel for l'manberg's freedom."

he nods, "we duel for l'manberg's freedom."

dream smiles, he looks at the sun and says, "the sun sets at an hour tommy, be sure to be ready." he warns, as they leave.

"i will." tommy whispers.

the hour passed rather quickly, a bit too quick for tommy actually. he felt like a mere seconds ago, he was just standing there, challenging dream to a bow duel, and now, he was at the bridge, clutching wilbur's bow as he watches the sun set.

dream stands at the other end of the bridge and tommy- tommy feels fear.

"wilbur, what- what happens if i miss?" he asks, looking at the elder, who can only sigh. 

he pats him in the shoulder, "well, you wanted this duel." tommy purses his lips.

wilbur moves to stand at the center, but before he could, tommy grabs him by the wrist, and he says- "do i shoot him wil, or do i aim for the skies?"

his expression softens, "i want you to do whatever your hearts says, tommy." he replies, as he walks toward the center.

tommy meets dream at the center and both of them stare at wilbur, who speaks.

"i want a fair fight, alright." wilbur says, "if dream wins, l'manberg will not gain it's independence, but if tommyinnit wins, l'manberg will gain it's independece, is that clear?" both of them nod, and wilbur looks satisfied, "now, shake hands, turn around, and once i'll count you down."

the two of them shake hands, and turn around, their back's facing each other.

_"one."_

both of them take a step.

_"two."_

tommy takes a breath as he takes another step.

_"three."_

he takes a smaller step this time, no one really calls him out for this.

_"four."_

he starts loading his bow with an arrow.

_"five."_

he can hear dream take a step. was it a small one or a big one?

_"six."_

he glances at his bow and arrows as he takes another step.

_"seven."_

he want's to shoot dream, he really does-

_"eight."_

he stares at his reflection on the water. _(why did he look so scared?)_

_"nine."_

he ignores his trembling hands and gets ready to shoot.

_"ten paces, fire."_

he turns around and shoots. _(he misses.)_  
tommy's eyes widen, and he dodges an arrow that dream shoots at him before fumbling with his bow, trying to load it with an arrow.  
as he aims at dream, he looks up too late and can only see the arrow coming straight at his face.

_"TOMMY-!"_

` ** tommyinnit was shot by dream ** `  
` _** tommyinnit has one life left remaining. **_ `

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not me almost forgetting to post this chapter-
> 
> this chapter was heavily centered on dream and tommy because of the duel! (and also wilbur ig)
> 
> also yes, i left out the tommy making his own final control room, but it's for a good reason, i swear. i actually have a good reason for me retconning canon (partially because idk the early days really well and partially because of liberties for the fic)
> 
> think of it like me replacing the first disc war for the tax scrap, everything has a meaning, i promise.
> 
> once again, questions + constructive criticism, highly appreciated!


	11. ix.

# N I N E

_❝it's l'manberg, my l'manberg.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

tommy opens his eyes and finds himself at the camarvan again. he sits up from the bed and buries his face in his hands. the one chance to gain l'manberg's freedom, and he absolutely blew it, he failed everyone and it's his fault that they aren't independent. _(how did he miss?)_

he takes a deep breath and stand up, leaving the camarvan. he looks around at the ruins of l'manberg before full on sprinting towards the bridge. _(where he died- he's on his last life)_

when he gets there, dream is waiting for him, and the rest of the members of l'manberg all look solemn. he glances at dream and opens his mouth-

"dream, can we talk privately?" he asks.

dream tilts his head, "very well, the rest of you should leave us."

george and eret move to leave, though sapnap didn't seem very keen to leave and punz had to drag him away. fundy, wilbur and tubbo looked hesitant to leave as well, but tommy gives them all a look and tubbo- tubbo pulls the others away, the trio moving towards the general area of where once stood- where l'manberg is. _was_.

"so, what did you wanna talk about, tommy?" dream asks, and tommy frowns. dream doesn't ruffle his hair or take his mask off. dream doesn't smile and joke and _oh god_ tommy feels so so cold.

tommy plays with the hem of his l'manberg uniform, _(a trait he picked up from sapnap)_ and he speaks, "i want to make a deal with you dream." 

dream raises an eyebrow, "a deal about what?" he asks.

"l'manberg's independence."

dream taps his foot at the wooden bridge, "you lost the duel tommy." he says, "that means that l'manberg can't be independent." then he turns around, ready to leave.

tommy grips the jacket of his l'manberg uniform, "what if i give you something?" he asks.

dream halts in his step. "and what will you give me?" he asks.

tommy wracks his mind, trying to find something he owned that dream could possibly want, but he comes up with nothing. everything he had, it was either dream already had it or dream had something better than it. finally, he decides to say- "well, what do you want from me?"

dream turns to look at him, "you'll give me anything?" he asks.

a nod. "anything."

there is a shadow of a smile on dream's face, and tommy thinks that he's almost won, _(he hasn't, he really hasn't)_ but what dream says next is not what he could have ever predicted.

"i want both of your discs. cat and mellohi."

tommy pales.

_(tommy sits next to dream on the bench, mellohi playing in the background. it is peaceful, calm._

_"what's the story behind your discs, tommy?" dream asks, all of the sudden, "you brought the discs here and you almost always play them everyday."_

_tommy smiles, "they were a gift from tubbo!" he explains, "he gave it to me when we were young, and i've kept it ever since." he looks fondly at the jukebox, carrying the tune of mellohi. "tubbo's favorite disc was cat, and since he gave me a cat disc, it's almost like cat is mine and tubbo's disc now, it symbolizes our friendship."_

_dream raises an eyebrow, "just cat and not mellohi?" he asks._

_he looks away, "mellohi- it's my favorite disc. it's yours too, right?" tommy asks, "sapnap said it was."_

_dream nods, "yeah, it's one of the best discs."_

_"then in some ways, i guess mellohi is our disc." tommy says nonchalantly, "like- cat symbolizes me and tubbo, so i guess mellohi symbolizes you and me."_

_after a a beat, tommy looks away, face flushed red with embarrassment, "you could forget i said that, i-"_

_"no." dream smiles as tommy looks at him, "i quite like that. mellohi is you and me."_

_a bright smile appears on tommy's face and they both relax, listening to the tune of mellohi in the background.)_

"dream-" tommy's eyes are filled with disbelief, "you know what those discs mean dream, why would you-" he almost sounds desperate.

dream nods, "i do know what those discs mean, it's exactly the reason i want them."

"but-"

dream interrupts him. "tommy, do you want l'manberg to be free or not?" he asks.

"the discs- they're too important, dream!" he protests.

dream sighs, "fine, you give me mellohi and cat, and in exchange, i'll give you l'manberg's independence and spirit." _(spirit could be leverage.__

silence.

tommy takes a deep breath because he can't understand _why_ dream would do this, why dream would make him choose between the discs and l'manberg. and he thinks- the discs. the discs are tommy and tubbo and dream and their friendship, the discs are the first things that were genuinely given to him and he _doesn't want to let them go_ but l'manberg is tommy and tubbo and wilbur and fundy ~~and eret~~ and for so many more people, and it is freedom and fairness and _why does he have to choose?_ why can't he just have them both?

dream places an ender chest down and tommy stares at it. after a beat, he approaches the ender chest and opens it, hands shaking as he grabs his discs. he turns around to face dream and-

he hands dream the discs. he hands cat and mellohi to dream. _the symbol of his friendship given away._

dream takes the discs, then he glances at tommy, and for a split second, tommy thought he could see a hint of regret before it disappears.

"l'manberg is free now, tommy." dream says, picking the ender chest up again and walking away, "it is free now."

tommy stares at dream's retreating back. "l'manberg is free now," he echoes, "but at what cost?"

after a few moments, he runs back towards l'manberg.

_they are free, he should be happy. but why does his heart feel so heavy?_

he returns to l'manberg and he tells them of what had occurred. 

"we are free!" he says, trying to sound happy.

wilbur praises him, _(it makes him so happy and warm inside)_ and fundy smiles, excited at the prospect of freedom. tommy is almost bitter at their happiness, but why should he? they don't know the true meaning of those discs. so tommy pushes the bitterness away and tries hard to celebrate.

dream, george, sapnap, punz and eret show up. they call wilbur "president soot" and wilbur smiles and says, "suck it green boy!" in the loudest voice he could muster. _(they all laugh.)_

_(tommy couldn't help but eavesdrop on the five of them, they were having a conversation just outside l'manberg's walls!_

_"-and eret, you're king of the smp now." he hears dream say, and he freezes. because is that what eret exchanged l'manberg for? kingship?_

_"what?" he hears eret's voice, "but that wasn't our deal! you said you'd tell me how to-"_

_dream interrupts him, "deals change."_

_he gains more questions than answers at that conversation.)_

wilbur and fundy may not know the meaning behind those discs, but tubbo does though. and when hours later, tubbo and tommy sit at the bench, it is awfully silent and awkward and tommy _hates_ it. _(there is no cat playing in the background.)_

tubbo asks why he gave the discs away, and tommy reasons with him. _("it's for l'manberg!" he had said.)_ the two of them try to find new discs, to maybe fill the hole. they find blocks, but it's not the same. _(blocks plays in the background, but tommy would give up so much just to hear cat instead.)_

the weeks after that pass quickly. l'manberg gains two new members, someone named jack manifold, and a woman that wilbur had met in his many adventures, someone named niki nihachu. they both fit in very quickly, with jack becoming friendly with tommy and tubbo, and niki becoming close with wilbur and his son, fundy.

it is only when a new member joins, quackity, does problems start to show up.

tommy and tubbo like quackity, he is funny and loud and so just like them. but wilbur- wilbur didn't like him very much, but it was just probably because of his ideals. quackity had called it unfair, that wilbur was a self proclaimed president, and he had come close to comparing him to a tyrant, which wilbur didn't like very much.

tommy thinks that might be the reason that wilbur is standing in front of his house, smiling.

"tommy, people seem to think it's unfair i'm president, why don't we hold an election?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, look it's chapter nine! and it's the end of the dream smp war and we're transitioning towards the election arc! this is gonna be fun. might seem a bit rushed, but hey, it's five minutes till my curfew, i need to get this published before my parents make me turn my laptop off because i cannot write on my phone, it is an absolute struggle.
> 
> did you guys like the fact that i made cat symbolize tommy and tubbo but i made mellohi symbolize tommy and dream? i did it because i noticed that dream likes to play mellohi a lot when teasing tommy about the fact that he has his discs, that was just my line of thought. and also, if i make dream and tommy have this brotherly relationship, the exile arc and all the arcs that come after (heck, even the election/pogtopia/festival/16th arc) would be so much more angstier because of that.
> 
> also, does anyone want to guess what eret asked for, his reason and why dream wouldn't give it to him? i wanna see what you guys think up.
> 
> EXTRA: punz dragging sapnap away.
> 
> sapnap was just standing still, glancing at dream and tommy, and punz, next to him, sighs and just yanks him away by the shirt. sapnap tries to get free a few times and tries to bribe punz with money, when he sees that it's not working, he tries to get free by threatening to tell sam, but punz says "no u" and then threatens to tell sam AND badboyhalo so sapnap just stops struggling.


	12. x.

# T E N

_❝peace for just a little while.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

tommy blinks, staring at the older boy, trying to study his expression.

"are you fucking serious?" he asked, "an election?" he echoes, "why the fuck would you want an election, wil?"

wilbur sighs, "first of all, stop cursing tommy-" _("you can't tell me what to do, fucker!")_ "-i told you to stop," wilbur says, looking at the younger boy sternly, before continuing, "and second of all, i'm getting tired of quackity undermining my authority and challenging it and calling me a tyrant, because i'm not, right tommy?" wilbur asks, looking at the younger, _(tommy can only nod.)_ at tommy's nod, wilbur looks satisifed, "and this election, will prove i'm not a tyrant." he adds.

tommy wasn't about to say it, but an election seemed kind of dumb and stupid. wilbur was president by default because he started l'manberg, he was one of the founders, didn't that mean that he didn't need to prove shit to anyone? heck- even dream, the admin of the server, called wilbur 'president soot', that probably means something.

you know what? fuck it. he's saying it.

"i think that this is a really stupid idea wilbur."

wilbur frowns, "no, it's really not," he says, "come on, doesn't an election sound fun, tommy?" he asks.

"i think it sounds very boring." tommy replies.

wilbur pats him on the head, "i don't think you'll find it very boring when i ask you if you want to run as my running mate at the election." he offers.

tommy blinks, "i don't know what that means, wilbur." he admits.

"it means, tommy, that you'll become my vice president when we win." wilbur tells him.

tommy's eyes brighten up, sure, he wasn't very familiar with elections and what they do, or what to do, but positions of power? tommy _loved_ positions of power. people in positions of power always had the good shit and they get to boss people around. tommy loved bossing people around!

though....

"just vice president?" he asks, "and not, you know, _president_ president?" he asks.

wilbur laughs, "tommy, you're never gonna be president, _i'm_ gonna be president." he says.

tommy pretends that it doesn't hurt, being told that you'd never be president, but it's fine. it's fine! wilbur started l'manberg, it was only fair that he gets to be president, besides- wilbur might decide to give tommy presidentship one day!

_('but you gave your discs up for l'manberg's freedom!' a voice inside his head says, he ignores it.)_

"how are you so sure that we'll win?" tommy asks, confused, because, well, not everything is predictable and some thing actually end up the way that you don't want them to be.

wilbur smiles mischievously at the younger, "well, tommy, it's because we'll be the only one's running, which means that we win automatically!"

that...probably wasn't very morally right for them to do _(but knowing wilbur, that wasn't where his priorities lay),_ but tommy would be lying if he said that he wouldn't like a guaranteed victory, heck- everyone probably liked guaranteed victories! 

it was still kind of wrong though, and it kinda of felt like cheating to him.

"right..." tommy says, trying hard to smile, "ah- where's tubbo?" he asks, discretely trying to change the topic.

"tubbo's in l'manberg." wilbur responds, "he's gonna build this huge podium for the election, wanna come see?" he asks.

tommy nods, it _would_ be nice to see the podium and how l'manberg had changed since he last saw it. _(and though tommy would never admit it, it would be nice to see tubbo again as well.)_

wilbur then leads tommy towards l'manberg, chattering on about his plans for the election, and tommy follows, inserting his opinion every now and then.

they reach l'manberg, finally, and tommy smiles at the sight of it.

the black walls ~~_that eret helped make_~~ stood tall, surrounding the l'manberg's initial lands, which held the camarvan, where they would do their drugs, a little jukebox area in the middle of the river, which they had built after the war, to commemorate tommy's sacrifice of giving the discs to dream, and it held a little house full of materials that they had used during the war.

the war had torn l'manberg apart, destruction had come and go and they had rebuilt. and now, in the lands surrounding l'manberg, where once stood an abundance of trees, a forest- _(it had been burnt down, long before, it was burned down as they declared war on the ones that they could not control.)_ there were now plains. just outside the walls, there was tubbo, building a massive wooden podium, and beside it was a tall building that tommy had not seen before.

"tommy!" tubbo exclaimed at the sight of the younger blond.

tommy smiles, approaching the podium, "tubbo!" he exclaims, a smile on his face.

"i'm building this podium for the election that wilbur keeps talking about, wanna help?" tubbo asks, eyes twinkling with happiness and excitement.

tommy was about to decline, make up an excuse about how he was with wilbur and they needed to go somewhere else, but when he turned around to look at wilbur, he was arguing with quackity about something- _(probably the election)_ and let's be honest here, tommy really does not want to get involved in that shit.

"sure, tubbo." he says instead, and tubbo gives him some wooden planks and they get to building the podium.

half an hour later, quackity leaves and wilbur approaches the two younger boys, a scowl on his face.

"what was that all about?" tubbo asks, and wilbur scowls even further.

a huff. "just quackity complaining about how the election can't be fair because there's only one party running." wilbur says, "and then saying that he's gonna be running against me just so that it could be fair." 

tommy and tubbo exchange glances, "so what happened next, then?" tommy asks.

"well, we decided that the first event for the election is to have endorsement speeches." wilbur says.

"what?" tubbo asks, "we don't really know what you're talking about wilbur." he says.

wilbur purses his lips, trying to find a way to explain it easily, "well," he says, "it's kind of like finding someone important or famous- or just someone who's word holds a lot of power and influence, and you basically get them to say that you would be great for presidency." he explains.

both tommy and tubbo nod in understanding, then tommy stops.

"wait- who are we gonna get for our endorsement?" he asks, confused.

wilbur smiles, "don't worry tommy, i have just the person for it." he reassures him, "i'll ask dream for a whitelisted card and then send him a letter with the card, it'll be fine." he adds.

later, wilbur begins to draft the letter that he wa supposed to send, he hadn't gotten the whitelisted card yet, but that was fine, that was a problem for later, now though, he needed to draft a basic idea for the letter he was going to send.

_dear jschlatt,_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if this chapter kinda sucks and the format is different, my dad had this brilliant idea to make me turn my laptop off at like, 8pm and i'm writing this at my phone so it's super slow and i can't do html correctly and it annoys me. also- the letters are so fucking small and i keep clicking the wrong things ;-:
> 
> god this was so rushed, i'm really sorry guys, if there are any mistakes please tell me!
> 
> feel free to ask any questions! i love answering them haha


	13. wilbur's interlude.

# I N T E R L U D E

_❝who's weapon is his words.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

wilbur soot remembers a time when he was young, a child, and he didn't really know much about the world.

wilbur doesn't really remember his real parents, but he does remember this dark haired woman with a bright smile, picking him up and bringing him home, giving him a family after he was abandoned by his.

her name was kristen, and she must have been an angel. it didn't really take long for wilbur to start referring to her as his mother.

when kristen introduced him to her husband, someone named phil, who had grey wings, that solidified his thought that she was an angel. after all, her husband had wings, that must mean that she was an angel too, right?

not even a year later, phil had brought home a piglin hybrid from his trips to the nether and wilbur had rejoiced at the fact that he was getting a brother. the piglin hybrid had been named technoblade by phil, and while wilbur thought the name was a little silly, he still adored technoblade all the same. _(during his birthday, they learned that that technoblade didn't know his own birthday, so wilbur demanded that phil light the candles again for techno. they shared a birthday after that.)_

he remembers being such a happy family, he was young, but he knew that they were the perfect family. it all changed though, when kristen became pregnant. 

wilbur didn't like the idea of sharing his mom with a baby, sure, techno was there, but techno was more phil's kid than kristen, he didn't have to worry about techno stealing kristen away, but the baby? the baby was definitely going to steal kristen's attention away from him.

"what do you guys want to name the baby?" kristen asks, a hand on her baby bump.

phil laughs, "why don't we let the boys decide?" he suggests.

technoblade comes up with the idea of naming the baby theseus if it was a boy and ariadne if it was a girl. wilbur thinks that it's stupid to name the baby fancy names that they probably couldn't pronounce, so he suggests thomas for a boy and clementine for a girl. 

kristen laughs and ruffles his hair, "a tommy or a theseus, an ariadne or a clementine." she murmurs, and wilbur blinks. 

tommy sounds pretty good, actually.

kristen smiles, looking at her baby bump fondly, and wilbur thinks that maybe- just maybe, he could learn to love the baby, just as long as the baby didn't hurt their mom.

_(the day at the hospital, wilbur emerges with a new brother and no mother. he glares at the baby- 'theseus' as their father named him. it's his fault that mom was gone. his fault that the one person who payed attention to him was gone. theseus is a stupid name and he's probably a stupid baby and he hates him.)_

a few years after theseus was born, phil started leaving home, sometimes taking techno with him, which left wilbur with stupid baby theseus at home.

sometimes, when theseus' wails grew loud, he would play a guitar to calm him, and when theseus would open his eyes, wilbur would see their mom, who was always so kind and loved him the most and it _hurts_ so much.

since phil and techno were always leaving, and wilbur and theseus were always left home, he actually got pretty attached to the little annoying baby. _(he started hating phil and techno for leaving.)_

"theseus-" wilbur calls out, after a long day of playing, then he stops himself.

kristen seemed happy with the name tommy, besides, it was a nickname from the name he suggested, and it certainly suited the little hellion better.

when a young theseus, barely a toddler, appears before him, he kneels down and smiles, "actually, how do you feel about the name tommy?" he asks.

the toddler ~~theseus~~ _tommy_ seemed happy with the name, so wilbur starts calling him tommy instead. he likes to think he made kristen proud. _(wilbur starts leaving a week later.)_

nothing stays the same after that, but it's fine. it's not like he wanted things to stay the same.

wilbur is fourteen when he first meets sally, a shapeshifter with red hair like fire and a spirit to match it. he was like a moth drawn to a flame, and he started seeking her attention and company even more. he is sixteen when they start dating, their interactions turning more romantic than platonic.

he is seventeen when sally gets pregnant and gives birth to a daughter. _(his hands are shaking and he is reminded of his mother who died when his brother was born and he is terrified.)_

sally names their little girl floris, and wilbur adores her.

he begins spending more time with sally and floris. _(he spends less with theseus-tommy.)_ he tells stories of his father, the angel of death _(the deadbeat father who played favorites). stories of his piglin hybrid brother, the blood god _(the favorite child). and stories of his youngest brother, the sun _(the reason his mother is dead-)_.__

____

____

wilbur is twenty and his little champion is eleven when his daughter decides that he wants to be a boy, and he is wholly supportive. _(when wilbur was eight, he changed theseus' name to tommy, and now, he's twenty, and he's renamed his ~~daughter~~ _son_ from floris to fundy.)_

sally disappears a year later, and his son is in shambles. _(it reminds him of himself, when he lost his mother.)_

wilbur leaves fundy to return home, not ready to present his son to his father and brothers just yet, and he finds their youngest missing.

he follows tommy to wherever he went, grabbing the card and ignoring his father and brother.

in dream's server, he focuses on bonding with his younger brother. _(he will never admit it, but he's unhappy with tommy ignoring him and acting like they're not brothers.)_ but he hasn't forgotten his son yet, and in a span of a few weeks, he'd managed to convince dream to give his son a whitelisted card. _(his family, together again.)_

he is still angry at tommy's indifference, his nonchalance. can't he see that wilbur is trying to be a better brother? why isn't he responding?

somewhere in his heart, there is anger. it festers, it rots. it eventually takes over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late chapter guys! i'm struggling with school work rn.
> 
> wilbur's interlude pog! he kinda a hypocrite ngl. also, i'm sorry for killing mumza, i love mumza but she needed to die for fic reasons.
> 
> also- theseus as tommy's real name pog? pog.
> 
> we finally get to see what wilbur is doing and his emotions and reasons for leaving tommy! the only one missing really, is philza's perspective in this lmao.


	14. xi.

# E L E V E N

_❝can we get back to politics?❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

the electoral debate was tomorrow, but tommy was still not aware of who wilbur had invited to endorse them. quackity- who was running against them, and george, had bragged about getting endorsement from one of those famous pvpers that didn't use weapons, only their hands. _(tommy personally thought that they were cool, but he could probably beat them.)_

whenever tommy had asked, all wilbur would say was- "why don't you go and recruit more people so they would vote for us?" and he did. he did try so hard to appease people. _(he managed to anger some as well.)_ he managed to get sapnap on their side though, at the expense of fundy.

but tommy was getting tired of it- getting tired of always being dismissed and turned away. he wanted to know things, and while he trusted wilbur, he didn't like the thought of not knowing anything and blindly following him. he wanted- no, _needed_ to know. besides, wasn't he trustworthy enough? _(despite only thinking they were neighbors- tommy trusted wilbur with his life, but wilbur, even with the knowledge that they were brothers, couldn't trust tommy fully.)_

so here he was, standing in front wilbur, a serious expression on his face, not speaking. he wanted to intimidate wilbur enough that the older would immediately tell tommy everything that he wanted to know. he's sure that it would work.

wilbur merely stares at him, then raises an eyebrow. "yes, tommy?" he asks, "what do you want?"

"i want you to tell me who's endorsing us." he asks, lips pursed.

wilbur scowls, "someone i don't want you to meet." he says, firmly.

tommy stares at the older with confusion on his face, "then why did you ask him to endorse us?" he asks.

"because it's his specialty," wilbur replies, "but aside from meeting him tomorrow, i don't want you to associate yourself further with him."

tommy furrows his eyebrows, "why not? is he dangerous?" he asks.

_(wilbur remembers the simulations he participated in during his travels, with a smiling schlatt. he remembers being **pushed** during the rising lava simulation. and maybe- just maybe, schlatt is dangerous in a different type than his brother and father.)_

"just a bad influence." wilbur replies, patting him in the head. 

tommy purses his lips, _(he doesn't really believe him.)_ , "okay wil," he says, "if you say so."

"i do say so." wilbur replies, "now go on," he says, "why don't you help tubbo with collecting materials for the white house?" he asks, a soft smile on his face.

tommy nods, "okay." he says, before running off and finding tubbo.

he doesn't see it, but as he turns around and leaves, the smile drops from wilbur's face, and not for the first time, he starts questioning his decision to invite schlatt for endorsement, and he wonders why he does so.

the day passes by quickly, and soon enough, the day for the electoral debate has finally started.

tommy and wilbur stand on one side of the podium, and at the other side stands quackity, glancing at his communciator and typing.

"big q!" tommy exclaims, "where's gogy?" he asks, saying it in the same tone as sapnap does.

quackity sweats, "well tommy, i actually- well, he's too busy being pretty, you know?" he answers, before frantically typing at his communicator.

tommy actually sneaks a glimpse at a few messages that quackity had sent, his curiosity getting the best him.

` _ you whispered to georgenotfound: george where are you  
you whispered to georgenotfound: tommy's starting to ask questions and i panicked, where are you  
you whispered to georgenotfound: george answer me  
you whispered to georgenotfound: GEORGE!_ `

and that was about as far as tommy could read before he met wilbur's eyes, saw the anger and disappointment in his eyes and he walks back towards him. wilbur would definitely not be pleased with what he did, but hey! he at least gained some information, and in an attempt to alleviate the pressure, he talks about how he got sapnap on their side. _("would you rather have a furry son or one of the hunters?" he had said, and it must have been the wrong thing to say because wilbur was not happy with him.)_

wilbur sighs as they wait for for the people to enter. _(tubbo sits at the front row, smiling at tommy. beside him is punz, who is arguing with sapnap, typical of them.)_

quackity glances at both of them, "excuse me you two, i need to ask sapnap something." he says, and he jumps down the podium before waiting for a response, already dragging sapnap towards the very back of the audience seats.

while waiting for quackity, tommy, once again, asks who their endorsement is. wilbur gives him a look, and sighs, "you'll meet him later tommy, now will you stop asking questions?"

"fine." tommy replies, pursing his lips and obviously not fine.

wilbur gives him a soft smile and ruffles his hair, causing tommy to scowl, "stop it!" he says, and wilbur laughs.

by the time sapnap and quackity have finished talking, and quackity had returned to the podium, most of the people are already there, and they had started the first phase of the debate, which was asking people what they wanted. tommy was a bit unhappy that it was only the presidents that were doing it and since he was just a running mate, he had to leave the podium. though he had to admit, it was way funnier from down there.

_(punz had barely asked his question before quackity had already agreed and said that he would do it, he found that hilarious and punz retreated to his seat in slight confusion. and when it was sapnap's turn, he had asked for money and riches, which he honestly thought was more punz's style. and quackity had replied with the fact that he was poor, and tommy climbed up the podium and answered sapnap, which prompted wilbur to let tommy stay on the podium.)_

after that though, were the introductions, and tommy was once more, forced off the stage. _(he didn't like that very much.)_ and up in the podium, quackity and wilbur were introducing themselves and explaining why they were running, hoping to sway them to vote.

in the midst of introductions, there appeared niki nihachu and wilbur's son, fundy, as both quackity and wilbur leave the podium to greet them, they immediately take the stage, much to everyone's confusion.

as it turns out, ostracizing wilbur's son was a bad thing to do, because now, fundy and niki were also running for the presidency, under the banner of COCONUT2020, which doesn't really hold a candle to POG2020, or SWAG2020 for that matter. tommy exchanges glances with wilbur, who just seems tired, and wilbur stands up and goes on the podium, tommy can see him staring intently at his son as he asks- "do you have any endorsements?"

fundy sweats, then he grabs niki's hand and both of them book it, running out.

tommy nervously laughs, "why don't we have a little two minute break?" he suggests, going up on the podium and tugging at wilbur, "let's have a two minute break everyone!" he says, dragging wilbur off the stage and into the camarvan so they could talk.

_(wilbur shouts at him, at first, telling him that he's not in charge and that he shouldn't act like he is because he hates it. tommy bites his lips as he does. after shouting though, wilbur tells tommy that he's proud of him, and that makes tommy feel so warm and happy.)_

after the two minute break, they return to their positions, wilbur at the podium, and tommy at his seat.

wilbur, alone at the podium, sighs and says, "quackity, why don't you come next for the endorsements?" he asks, and quackity joins him at the stage.

quackity rambles, at first, about all the good that he's going to do, and he explains why his running mate, georgenotfound, wasn't there. tommy finds himself smiling throughout quackity's speech, and even laughing. quackity seemed to be doing really good actually, until he was asked about his endorsement.

a sweat. "well, george was actually in charge of that and he promised that he'd get ksi- we even sent him a letter!" he frantically says. _(when a letter with a whitelisted card is sent to quackity, a few hours later, with an apology from ksi saying that he couldn't make it. quackity gives tommy the card and makes tommy promise that he'd cause chaos with it.)_

wilbur slowly nods, "okay quackity, thank you for that." he says, and quackity looks at him.

"what about you guys, who's your endorsement?" he asks, staring at wilbur.

wilbur looks at his communicator, "he's joining the server right now." he says, and as if by cue, a new message appeared on their communicators, and they all glanced at it.

quackity stares at wilbur, "you didn't." he says.

and wilbur smiles, "i did."

` ** jschlatt has joined the game ** `

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update! i had too many schoolwork and i don't want to fail.
> 
> this chapter kinda sucks ngl, i didn't really know much of the election arc and i had to rely on tommy's video about it.
> 
> and yeah! the lava is rising and water is rising videos are canon here as simulations! i needed to explain how wilbur and schlatt knew each other except for smplive because i don't really know it yet.
> 
> wilbur shouting at tommy then saying he was proud of him actually did happen btw, i was shocked about it too, i didn't really expect that to happen.
> 
> a bit rushed, but that's because i did not know what was going on. when we get to the pogtopia bits, the pacing will be better because i actually have a semblance of a clue at what happened there.


	15. xii.

# T W E L V E

_❝the art of the compromise.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

there were shouts of surprise around the area of the election as jschlatt made his way up the podium, the horned man standing next to wilbur, taking the microphone.

tommy couldn't help but stare at him, trying to figure out why wilbur didn't want him to talk with the man. _(tommy would still talk to him, of course, but he just wanted to figure out the reason.)_

sure, he seemed a bit intimidating, but that was just it, he just looked intimidating, and tommy could handle that. 

_why did wilbur make him out to be so dangerous?_

"this is our endorsement!" wilbur says, proudly, "our endorsement, everybody." 

tommy nods along, supporting wilbur's statement as he tried to gauge everyone's reactions. punz was frowning quite a bit, he noticed, and tubbo was gripping his wrists tightly, averting his gaze from the podium. _(tommy wondered why.)_

for a moment, there is silence. 

then schlatt speaks, "what am i supposed to be doing again?" he asked, glancing at wilbur. 

wilbur nervously chuckled, "endorsing us, remember?" he asked, "we're POG2020, you know, the presidency!" he adds, "presidency for l'manberg! you know, this nation."

"the presidency..." schlatt murmurs, and wilbur gives him a thumbs up, then schlatt looks over at the other side of the podium, straight at quackity. "who's this?" he asked, and tommy had to stop himself from laughing.

quackity laughs, though it sounds more nervous than it does amused, "it's- it's me," he says, then after that, he quickly adds- "babe."

"don't call me that." schlatt says, sounding slightly disgusted as he turns away from quackity and faces the crowd again.

and this time, almost everyone briefly laughs at that. it _was_ amusing.

schlatt then opens his mouth to speak, and everyone expects an endorsement, after all, it was what he was brought here for. but his words- his words surprised them all.

"democracy is overrated." schlatt declares, and the smile on wilbur's face disappears. 

tommy blinks, "wait- no, no no no," he tries to intercede, "just, stick to the script-" he adds, but schlatt keeps talking, ignoring tommy as if he was irrelevant.

"you think you need a president?" schlatt asks, an amused smirk appearing on his face, then he turns to face tommy and wilbur, "I'LL BE MY OWN GODDAMN PRESIDENT!" he declares, staring right at wilbur.

this felt... this felt personal.

wilbur glares at him and schlatt returns his attention to the crowd, "I'LL RUN MYSELF!" he says, as tommy approaches him, trying to put a stop to this.

"no, stick- stick to the script." tommy says, almost desperately. _(wilbur would be so so angry after this.)_ he steps in front of schlatt, taking the microphone, "and this was our endorsement from schlatt!" he declares quite loudly, ignoring schlatt behind him, who vows to run himself.

"SCHLATT 2020!" schlatt shouts from behind tommy, trying to do damage control before it got worse.

wilbur takes a deep breath, before placing a hand on tommy's shoulder, "it's fine tommy, we'll do damage control later." he says, dragging tommy back to their side of the podium as schlatt takes the microphone again.

"you think you want quackity as your president?" he asks the crowd, "his vice president can't even show up!" schlatt says, then- "you think you want wilbur?" he adds, before glancing at wilbur.

wilbur stands there, impassive. schlatt's gaze hardens.

"he stole my heart."

for a second there, schlatt almost sounded genuine, he really did. he takes a breath, and then silence.

schlatt speaks again, "you know what? vote coconut 2020." and nobody on the podium really liked that, as evident by quackity and tommy's screeches.

"right, that was our endorsement by schlatt." wilbur says, "you can get off the podium now."

and as schlatt left the podium, he spoke, one last time.

"i'll run my own presidency! you haven't seen the last of me!" 

wilbur's expression hardens, "tommy, escort him out." he orders, and tommy does.

as he leads schlatt towards the audience, he gives him a coin, with the letter 'S' on it.

he looks up inquisitively at the older, and only finds a smirk, "in case you want out on wilbur's presidency and join mine." he says, sitting on one of the chairs.

tommy returns at the podium with the coin in his pocket.

"the votes are in a week," wilbur reminds them, then he glances at tubbo, "do you think you can finish the white house soon?"

tommy glances at the half finished white house that he, tubbo and quackity had been building since three days ago.

tubbo slowly nods, "probably, yes." he says.

"good." wilbur says, "now that this is over, i'm afraid tommy and i have to go." he says, going down the podium.

as they leave, tommy catches a glimpse of wilbur's communicator, and what he had just typed.

` _ you whispered to quackity: meet me and tommy on the cave underneath tommy's house. _ `

"let's go to your house, tommy." wilbur says, and tommy only nods.

once they enter his house, wilbur immediately went straight for the cave.

"what do we do now?" tommy asked, "we might not actually win this.." he leans against the wall, "dream has endorsed schlatt!" he exclaims.

wilbur pats him on the head as quackity enters the cave, "quackity." wilbur greets, "i've got a proposition for you."

quackity raises an eyebrow, "uh huh?"

"should we pool the pog 2020 and swag 2020 votes and just run as our own party?" wilbur suggests, causing tommy to widen his eyes, "you know, in case schlatt or coconut 2020 get more votes than pog or swag, we just, pool our votes!" he says, "but- but! only if, we are beaten by schlatt or coconut on the votes."

quackity had seemed to be all in for it, that is, until the last statement. "wait, wait, wait." he muttered, squinting his eyes, "wait a fucking minute- so, this is conditional?" he asks, "so if you guys get all the votes, i'll be left out of the party and if i get all the votes, you'll get left out?"

wilbur nodded, "that is correct.." he murmured.

"you know i'm not gonna get any votes, wilbur!" quackity nearly shouts, "george isn't even here, and ksi declined being our endorsement!" he takes a deep breath, "listen wilbur, this can't be conditional, you either keep me in, or i'll endorse another party."

the air was tense

"you know, i was enticed by your idea to pool votes," quackity said, when realizing that they had nothing to say, "that is, until you admitted to me that you would only use me for votes if you didn't get enough."

tommy fidgets with the hem of his shirt, "you know, at least we were honest-"

quackity shakes his head, "you guys have clearly been trying to use me this entire time," quackity said, "and that's why, i'm gonna be endorsing schlatt 2020." he adds, moving to leave the cave.

"you'll regret that quackity." wilbur says, as tommy moves to follow.

quackity raises an eyebrow, climbing up the ladder, "will i?" he asks.

after a beat, tommy moves and climbs the ladder as well, following after quackity.

"wait- big q..." tommy murmured, "i-"

quackity huffs, "i don't know what you're trying to pull here tommy, but it's not gonna work."

"don't join schlatt 2020." tommy almost pleads.

quackity shakes his head, "nothing you can say will stop me tommy," he said, then hesitated, "but, in light of our friendship, i do want to give you something."

he presses a whitelisted card on tommy's hands, "ksi sent them back earlier," he explained, "and i was supposed to give it back to george, but i am kind of still mad at him, and i thought you might need it more." quackity smiles.

"cause some trouble for me with that card, will you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes i know the timeline's fucked, but do you really expect them to build a white house in like, one day?
> 
> also, is the chapter rushed? i needed to fit a lot of events in the span of five chapter for the interlude so if their a bit rushed, that's why.
> 
> and- anyone wanna have guesses as to who's interlude is next?
> 
> love how i have a thousand ideas for doomsday and the eggpire arc but i have to get through the pogtopia and exile arc first to get to them. im sadge.
> 
> i swear i won't rush these chapters, but i will speedrun them a bit lmao. i already have a punz interlude, sam interlude and sapnap interlude planned out, heck, i might even throw in a ghostbur interlude.
> 
> next chapter might have purpled in it :)
> 
> anyways, if you guys wanna ask questions or suggest a few things, i won't mind!
> 
> EXTRA:
> 
> tommy moves to put the whitelisted card in his pocket, and he finds the schlattcoin still there. he looks at them both, debating on what to do, but then wilbur calls for him and he stuffs them back into his pocket.


	16. xiii.

# T H I R T E E N

_❝they were kids (that i once knew).❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

two days after the debacle that was the electoral debate, tommy and tubbo were trying to finish building the white house.

quackity was supposed to join them, but apparently, he and schlatt were doing something else, so instead, it was just tommy and tubbo. but it was fine, really. they didn't need anyone else, it could be just them against the world.

"i genuinely think we're close to finishing this." tubbo says, glancing at the unfinished white house.

tommy scoffs, "maybe, if big q had been helping us." he counters, standing next to tubbo.

tubbo opens his mouth to respond, probably to agree with tommy, but a voice behind him beats him to it.

"would you appreciate my help then?"

the both of them turned around swiftly, and they found themselves staring into purple eyes.

purple eyes could only mean one thing. it was purpled, and tommy had to prevent himself from smiling brightly, because this was purpled, someone he considered to be a close friend and his brother. but he remembered that purpled had left them during the war, had chosen to instead be neutral, to leave the server, and he tries so hard to erase the smile. tommy still loves purpled, still trusts him. but, he does want some sort of reason as to why purpled had left them, had chosen to just pack up and leave, to play games in one of the servers with unlimited respawns instead of helping them.

"purpled...?" tubbo asks, a smile on his face, "is it really you?"

purpled nods, "yeah, it's me." he says, moving to ruffle both of their hair, tubbo lets him, but tommy- tommy moves away. purpled raises an eyebrow and glances at him questioningly. _(in his mind, he knows something is wrong. tommy never moves away from him, in fact, tommy was always the first to embrace him. what was wrong?)_

tommy's lips are pressed in a thin line, and his arms are crossed over his chest, "you were gone for so long." he said, the tone making him seem like a child. "during the revolution, you didn't even help us."

"you know dream told me not to interfere." purpled said.

he rolls his eyes, "yeah, but you could have helped us! could have gone against him." a breath. " _we_ went against him, why couldn't you?" his tone was almost pleading.

"that's not fair." purpled says, "i was busy too." he protests.

this time, the one who spoke was tubbo, "yeah, busy playing bedwars in hypixel." he muttered, "we were at _war_." he adds, then softer, quieter- "we _missed_ you, we _needed_ you." his eyes shone with tears, threatening to spill.

his eyes softened, "i missed you guys too, but-" before purpled could finish his statement, he was interrupted.

"you could've done something!" tommy snapped, "you could have joined us, or persuaded dream, but no. _no._ you decided that playing bedwars was more important." he seethed. if tubbo was trying to hide his tears, tommy was showing them. in his anger, in his passion, tears had streamed from his face.

purpled explodes, words he didn't want to say spilling out, "well maybe, bedwars was my outlet!" he shouts, "ever thought about that? my friends are fighting and waging wars- i needed comfort, and bedwars provided it." he reasoned, trying to get the two to understand. he didn't mean to leave them- didn't mean anything. they needed to understand that.

and now, the tears were stinging in his eyes as well.

in front of an unfinished building, there stood three teenagers, who hadn't interacted in a long time, and all of them were either on the verge of tears, or were crying. they all stood still, not knowing what to do.

purpled is the first to move, dragging both of the younger boys towards him and crushing them into a hug.

"i'm sorry- i'm sorry purp, i'm sorry!" tubbo whispers, burying his face into the older boy's chest, "shouldn't have gotten mad." he adds, and purpled draws circles in his back, trying to be reassuring.

tommy hugs the other two back, "i'm sorry too." he says, voice muffled as he also buried himself in purpled's chest.

"i'm at fault too," purpled says, glancing at the two younger boys he holds in his arms, "so, i'm sorry as well."

there are whispered apologies, tears and hushed 'it's my fault, you shouldn't be sorry!' thrown around as the three teenagers finally, _finally_ talked again. no more miscommunications. it was tommy and tubbo and _purpled_.

"i missed this." tubbo had said, wiping a tear from his eyes, "we should hang out more often!" he adds, and what once were three crying teenagers, had now descended to laughter and joy. there were still tears, of course, but they were mostly joyful now.

he glanced up at the unfinished white house, "i was supposed to help you guys build this." purpled admitted, "but i just made you guys cry instead!" he laughs, and tommy elbows him in the gut.

"well, now we can get to finishing it!" tubbo exclaims, holding tommy's hand on his left, and purpled's on the other hand.

tommy and purpled laugh, and tubbo drags them towards the white house, so that they could finish building it, and their process, well, it was definitely interesting.

they had managed to trap tubbo in a box during the build. _("tubbo stand still!" tommy says, as he and purpled trap him in a box. purpled laughs, "tubbo in a box! tubbox! what will he do?")_ and tubbo had retaliated by trying to bury them in the ground. _("tubbo? what are you doing?" purpled asks, as tubbo dug a hole beneath them. as they fell, tommy screams, "tubbo, let us out you bastard! let us out!" and tubbo only laughs, trying to cover the hole with dirt, as to bury them.)_ to give them credit, they did manage to finish the entire white house.

as tommy chases after purpled and tubbo, who had taken his water bucket, wilbur was watching them from a distance.

wilbur observed the three happy and carefree teenagers, and he gripped ends of his revolutionary outfit's jacket. 

he imagines a little fox boy running along with them- his son, and he smiles. "this is why i need to win," he tells himself, staring at the trio laughing and joking around.

"for them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was gonna make this all fluffy, you know. give you guys a treat before i go hard on the angst next chapter, but then my brain went- "purpled angst" and i followed.
> 
> this was supposed to be happy, but all my mind knows is angst.
> 
> i just,,, i really love tommy and tubbo and purpled's friendship i really miss them.
> 
> yeahhh,,, wilbur's mindset, kinda skewed right now, descending deeper into insanity muhahahaha. why did i add that this was supposed to be a fluffy chapter to counter the pogtopia angst.
> 
> anyways, ask any questions and i'll try my best to answer.


	17. xiv.

# F O U R T E E N

_❝the election of l'manberg.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

it was the day of the election, and besides the electoral debate, tommy had only gotten to speak with schlatt once, when wilbur wasn't looking.  
 _("are you wilbur's kid or something?" schlatt had asked, and tommy looked at him with a confused expression, "no, why'd you think that?" he asks. schlatt hums, and glances at him curiously, "the way he hovers over you, protectively," he says, "makes it seem like you're family." there is intrigue in his eyes. "we're just neighbors," tommy replies, shaking his head, and before he could elaborate, wilbur swoops in and glares at schlatt, dragging tommy away. and as tommy glances at schlatt, he only smirks back.)_

the day had started out pretty normal, actually. tommy, wilbur and tubbo walking towards the podium, with wilbur clutching the results of the election in his hands, not letting tubbo nor tommy sneak a glance at it.

tommy had asked of course, he wanted to know! but wilbur, wilbur really didn't want to show it to him, but it was fine. they were gonna win anyways, wilbur just wanted to keep it a secret to surprise him.

as they neared the podium, wilbur nervously laughs, "tommy, i'm kinda getting stage fright." he says.

"so am i!" tommy exclaimed, a hint of uncertainty in his voice, because wilbur? the poet, getting stage fright? it was pretty unbelievable, "there's a lot of people from all around the servers who voted."

the three of them glance up at the podium, "oh god, they're all there." tubbo says, as he takes his seat, "good luck, you guys!" he smiles.

wilbur smiles back as tommy boisterously tells tubbo that he didn't need any luck. _(they did, god they really did.)_

"shall we join them, tommy?" he asks, and at tommy's nod, they both head towards the podium and enter it, standing alongside the others, who had previously been arguing.

wilbur clears his throat, "ladies and gentlemen, i just want to say, i have in my possession, the election results." 

"forged!" quackity immediately says, "i think they're forged, wilbur." 

wilbur stares at him incredulously, "quackity, there were two hundred and twenty thousand votes, all from different servers." he argues.

"and you forged every single one of them, they're all forged!" quackity insists, and wilbur _explodes_.

"how can i forge two hundred and twenty thousand votes?" he nearly shouts.

and tommy, tommy adds on it, "quackity, come on, pick your battles man." and the podium erupts in laughter.

as it calms down, tommy can see wilbur seizing up their competition, starting with schlatt, who tommy knows, frankly, little to nothing of. 

"hello, mister schlatt." wilbur says. _(if tommy was more observant, he would have noticed that wilbur's eyes are stone cold.)_

schlatt nods his head, in respect, "hello."

"i didn't know you were serious about this." 

schlatt shrugs, "i came early, wilbur." _(does that mean he's serious? tommy wonders, does coming early mean he's serious?)_

tommy glances at wilbur, _(he doesn't notice the curled fists.)_ , he watches as wilbur takes a deep breath, and then switches his attention from schlatt to george.

"well, look who decided to show up!" wilbur says, as quackity moves towards his running mate.

quackity nods, "yeah, george has been found, baby!" he exclaims, and tommy bursts into laughter.

wilbur though, he ignores the joke and stares at the final pair that were running against him.

tommy turns to see wilbur staring at fundy, "and my son." wilbur said.

"i am here." fundy deadpans, "and i am ready, to hear the resul-"

wilbur interrupts him, "still running against your old man, huh?" _("why would you say that?" tommy asks.)_

"yes, i am." fundy says, not backing down.

wilbur then switches his gaze towards the woman next to his son, "and niki." he says.

"hello..." niki quietly says, waving at wilbur slightly.

wilbur gives a small half wave back before continuing, "also running against me."

niki wilts, and tommy steps forward, handing niki a carrot, "here niki," he says in hushed tone, like they were conspiring, "have a pity carrot, i gave it to you out of pity."

wilbur shakes his head and sighs at tommy's antics, and steps up on the microphone.

"tonight is the inauguration," he says, "we're not just deciding who wins tonight, we are also inaugurating the winner." he tells them, "when we have announced who wins, the winner comes up here," he points at the microphone, "stands at the center one, and we then listen to their first decree, as president, cause, i mean, the first decree of the president is important." wilbur adds, glancing at all his competitors.

he then glances at the meager crowd, "my fellow l'manbergians." he greets them, including the members of the greater dream smp at that greeting, _("that's my president!" tubbo cheers, and tommy chuckles.)_ , wilbur smiles, "thank you for coming here today, to watch, an important and historical moment!" he feels the paper with the election results in the pocket of his revolutionary outfit, "the passing over of the presidency for the first election of l'manberg!"

"i have with me the election results of the four parties, SWAG 2020, POG 2020, COCONUT 2020, and SCHLATT 2020." wilbur says, taking the paper out of his pocket, "now, the turnout of this election was two hundred and twenty thousand votes, all across different servers." a smile, "i will say though, there was some voter fraud."

whispers in the crowd, a "wait, what?" from tubbo, and a slightly enraged quackity.

"what i have done is-" wilbur tries to say, trying to explain.

quackity though, was quick to interrupt him, "but you're the only one who has access to the votes!"

"i know!" wilbur says, "but-"

the podium descends to chaos.

"-if you're not gonna let me finish!" wilbur nearly shouts, in a tone that was almost threatening.

niki speaks up, "let him finish!"

wilbur nods at her, in thanks, and he continues, "what i've done is i've correlated the votes minusing the ones that use the same server ip addresses, that's all i'm saying!" he explains, and before the podium could descend into further chaos, he continues, "do you want to know what party had votes that were banned?" he asked.

"yeah..." tommy says from behind wilbur, curious to see what party it was.

wilbur stares straight at fundy.

"i think we should continue the votes." fundy says.

they don't continue the votes, wilbur erases the fake votes from COCONUT 2020 and finally, it was time to announce the votes.

COCONUT 2020 was in fourth place, with nine percent of the votes, and while they were in last place and didn't win, the duo was still glad that they had votes.

in third place was SCHLATT 2020, with sixteen percent of the votes, which definitely shocked most of the people.

and now, it was down to SWAG 2020 and POG 2020.

in second place was SWAG 2020, with thirty percent of the votes, which left POG 2020 at first, with forty-five percent of the votes.

"we won!" tommy exclaimed happily, "wilbur we won!"

wilbur sighs, "but listen, please stop celebrating." he tries to say, but he is interrupted by tommy.

"but wilbur we won!"

schlatt laughs.

tommy stops celebrating.

"a week ago, at the night of the electoral debate, quackity and schlatt had a, uh, deal." wilbur sighs, "that no matter what, SCHLATT 2020 and SWAG 2020 would pool their votes together." there are gasps from the crowd, but wilbur continues, "POG 2020 got forty-five of the electoral vote," he almost hesitates, "but the combined parties of SCHLATT 2020 and SWAG 2020 got forty-six of the electoral vote."

he glances at them, "which means that the combined cabinet of SCHLATT 2020 and SWAG 2020," hesitance. "has won the election by one percent."

"mister schlatt, step up to microphone and deliver your inauguration speech." wilbur says as he leaves the podium, heading towards the audience seats, but tommy stays there, still from the shock, still questioning what had happened, at least, until schlatt approaches him and speaks.

"tommy, get off my podium." schlatt says, and tommy pales.

his voice is nervous, "wilbur, are you sure about this?" he asks.

"just do as he says, tommy." wilbur says, as tommy goes down the podium.

he sits down, patting the seat next to him for tommy to sit in, "we are citizens for tonight tommy, just listen to schlatt."

_(tommy doesn't notice, but wilbur was angry. it is subtle, in a sense, his anger. shown in a language only he and schlatt knew. schlatt catches his eye and wilbur knows that schlatt knows he's angry.)_

"well..." there was a pause, "that was pretty easy." schlatt says, "y'know what I said, the day I joined the dream smp? and the day I said I was running?" he asked, "an election that I won, by the way..." he adds as an afterthought before continuing, "i said things are gonna change." tommy did not like the sound of that. "i looked every citizen of l'manberg in the eyes and I said 'you listen to me... this place will be a lot different tomorrow.' Let's start making it happen." _(what did that mean- what did that?)_ "my first decree, as the president of l'manberg... the EMPEROR, of this GREAT COUNTRY! IS TO REVOKE!! THE CITIZENSHIP OF WILBUR SOOT AND TOMMYINNIT! GET 'EM OUTTA HERE!"

shock. there is shock. because this couldn't be happening, surely, this couldn't be- _(he barely registers the screams, fighting against the decree, barely registers quackity laughing and cheering.)_

wilbur drags tommy up from his chair and pushes him, urging him to run.

he panics and does as wilbur says, running and trying to get out of l'manberg.

"tommy, go!" he hears wilbur's voice behind him, followed by a _twang_ from an arrow, and as tommy glances back, punz hits his mark.

` ** wilbursoot was shot by punz ** `  
` _** wilbursoot has one life left remaining. **_ `

with tears in his eyes, tommy runs, never looking back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is more wilbur based because hey, i need to foreshadow vilbur, okay? and besides, tommy doesn't really say all that much during the election, so let's make this chapter more tuned to him. tommy is still the main focus of the chapter though, there are just more wilbur elements and flashbacks.
> 
> schlatt's now own and both tommy and wilbur are on their last lives! this is kinda amazing ngl.
> 
> anyways, ask questions and thou shall receive answers! 
> 
> also extra thingy here: remember how i made it that little bby punz was unable to kill wilbur, who was a year older than him back when he was like twelve? and now punz is the one that took both his lives, nice reference right? and also nice foreshadowing because it's not punz that takes his last life, but phil, so it means that once again, punz is unable to permanently kill wilbur. oooo foreshadowing mmmm


	18. xv.

# F I F T E E N

_❝tommy and ~~tubbo~~ wilbur against the world.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

tommy crosses the walls separating l'manberg from the greater dream smp and he heads towards eret's tower, overlooking l'manberg.

he needs to save wilbur, sure, but he doesn't know where wilbur respawns, he could be anywhere and tommy might just waste time trying to find him, and besides, the tower was a good vantage point, it was high up at the sky and he could listen in on what was happening at l'manberg.

he glances at his inventory, trying to find something useful, and he spots an invisibility potion. he glances at the light purplish blue potion, it would probably only last for a few minutes, but it was good enough, it was good enough.

he drinks the potion, and as he glances at his hands, he could see nothing. he made sure that he wasn't holding anything, and as he neared the edge of the tower, he crouched to make sure his gamer tag, as well as the potion particles, were hidden, and he peered down.

punz was standing in the walls, eyes flitting everywhere, probably looking for him or wilbur, and tommy gritted his teeth. but that wasn't important right now, schlatt was still on the stage, and he was still talking.

"until further notice," tommy hears schlatt say, his voice echoing due to the microphone, "wilbur soot, and tommyinnit are merely a memory of l'manberg." his eyes narrowed as he hears quackity cheer, "a relic of the past."

they started l'manberg! they should have won! schlatt didn't get to roll up here and declare their sacrifices for l'manberg null and void and just kick them out!

"a reminder!" schlatt continues, "of the darkest era, that this country has ever seen." _(what?)_ "and i guarantee you all, tonight, that changes."

tommy stares at his once home, fingers gripping the ends of his revolutionary coat as schlatt continues his propaganda.

"we are entering into a new period of l'manberg," schlatt says, and tommy scoffs, "a period of prosperity!" _(lies)_ "of strength!" _(they were strong before.)_ "of unity." _(isn't it his fault l'manberg isn't united?)_

tommy breathes. in. out. in. out.

` _ you whispered to wilbursoot: wilbur? have you respawned now? _ `

he waits for a minute. then another. there is no response.

tommy would wait more, but something schlatt says catches his attention.

"where's tubbo?"

his breath hitches. _not tubbo._ please not him.

he spots tubbo amongst the crowd, "i'm right here." he hears tubbo say, and from there, he knows that tubbo is averting his gaze. _("he's scared." quackity says, and frankly, tommy agrees.)_

"get up here." schlatt says, "get up here on my podium!"

tommy _freezes_.

and tubbo- tubbo does, sure, it takes a little bit of coaxing from both schlatt and quackity, who immediately calls it an order, which of course, tubbo couldn't refuse, i mean, it was an order from the _president_ of l'manberg, but couldn't tubbo decline? didn't tubbo shout earlier, that wilbur was his president? so why was he so compliant and why was he following their orders?

tommy could understand that, he can, but what he can't understand is what tubbo says-

"am i secretary-" his blood runs cold, "well, i wasn't aware that i got to keep my job." tubbo says, as if he wasn't talking about being employed to the man who exiled his best friend. _(tommy does not hear the nervousness and fear in tubbo's voice. he only does what he can to survive, but tommy doesn't hear it, he is in shock.)_

... _what_? was tommy hearing this right? why was that the first thing that tubbo had said?

and schlatt- schlatt laughs, "well, i'm not gonna fire you, you're tubbo!" he says, then quieter, in a volume that tommy could barely hear, schlatt adds, "you know who you are to me, did you really think i would fire you?"

tommy can see tubbo stopping, in front of the podium, and tommy does not see this, but schlatt narrows his eyes.

"tubbo, get up here right now." schlatt says, looking at the younger, who is hesitant.

quackity glances at him and nonchalantly replies, "i don't think he wants the job." and as he says this, tommy wants to smile, because of course tubbo doesn't want it, but as he was about to shout something to them about tubbo being loyal to the true winners, tubbo suddenly _moves_.

tubbo scurries towards the podium at that, "i do want the job, i'm on my way!" he protests, and tommy's words die in his mouth.

he can barely register eret- that fucking traitor, chastise tubbo _("tubbo, i didn't know you were capable of such a thing!")_ and trying to stop him, because he grabs his communicator and frantically began typing.

` _ you whispered to tubbo_: tubbo, you want the job? _`

as tubbo glances at his communicator, schlatt sees this and takes it, "oh, you're messaging tommy." schlatt comments, and he smirks, "and he seems to be listening in on my speech," a dark sardonic smile appears on his face, "it means he must be close."

tommy pales.

"tommy, if you can hear this," schlatt continues, "tubbo does want this job." his fists are clenched by now, as schlatt then directs his attention to tubbo, "and tubbo, since we know tommy's listening, i should tell you the order i'm about to give, tommy is included in it, it's only fair he listens to it."

tubbo fiddles with his fingers, "what is it?" he asks, his voice quivering and at the verge of stuttering.

a smirk. "i need you to find tommy, and show him the door" tommy pales as shrieks and screams come from the audience and tubbo _shakes_.

"he is pretty near, maybe," schlatt glances at the tower that tommy stands on, "he's on top of a building!"

he slowly backs away, fear in his eyes as punz glances up at the tower.

` _ tubbo_ whispered to you: tommy, i need you to come with me. _ `

no. no no no no _no_. this couldn't be happening, it _couldn't_.

` _ wilbursoot whispered to you: tommy come down, tommy. _ `

he glances down, and he finds wilbur, waiting for him below the tower, so he goes down.

` _ tubbo_ whispered to you: tommy, just come to the podium man. _ `

tommy ignores him as wilbur drags him off, far from the lands of l'manberg and into uncharted territory.

it takes hours before they finally settle down, finally build a base, finally declare they're safe. finally come to terms to what had just happened.

"we need allies if we want to take l'manberg back." wilbur tells him, as they discuss how to take their country back from schlatt, and tommy grips the whitelisted card and schlatt coin in his pocket.

he takes a deep breath and grabs the whitelisted card, "big q actually gave this to me a week ago, will this help?" he asks, holding out the card.

wilbur stares at him, and he smiles, taking the whitelisted card from his hands.

he holds it gingerly in his hands, "we can gain ourselves an ally, with this card." wilbur muses, and he glances up at tommy, "this helps us a lot." and tommy does not expect what comes out of his mouth.

"i need you to draft a letter to send to technoblade."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hell yeah, the plot is getting spicy now! we're entering pogtopia and vilbur territory, this is exciting! this is gonna be very fun.
> 
> yes, i cut a few things, but i was kinda exceeding my word limit a bit and i'm writing this at 12am, so cut me some slack here guys, i am very sleep deprived.
> 
> keeping the end notes pretty short because me me sleepy. <3
> 
> me, writing tommy, come down: he says that right  
> my last two braincells: achilles, achilles, achilles come down-
> 
> asking questions get you answers! feel free to ask!


	19. schlatt's interlude.

# I N T E R L U D E

_❝i drink to forget but i always remember.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

schlatt narrows his eyes as punz and a hesitant purpled returns hours later, with no trace of where tommy and wilbur had gone.

he had to admit, exiling them wasn't really the best choice, but it wasn't like there was some sort of reliable prison he could throw them into, right? there was no place where he could contain them without fear of them escaping.

he glances over at his side, where tubbo stands. _(a bright smiling woman, then screams and shouts and yelling.)_

he takes a deep breath. maybe, just maybe, a speech will draw them out.

he knows wilbur, he knows how wilbur thinks, how he operates. he knows how to draw him out. though, he does wonder if it's best to leave them alone, after all, there's no guarantee that wilbur would try and take l'manberg back, you know, maybe he would get bored, and besides, wilbur had nothing he really cared about here, right?

_(schlatt sees the way wilbur looks at tommy and he knows that wilbur would do anything for him. that is partially why he exiles the boy, because he knows that if he doesn't, wilbur would not stop attacking l'manberg in hopes of getting him back. he exiles tommy in hopes that wilbur would give l'manberg up peacefully. what he doesn't expect is tommy's unwavering loyalty and eternal love for l'manberg. it is tommy that eventually leads to his plan backfiring horribly.)_

he taps on the microphone a few times, garnering everyone's attention. "i would like to make my second presidential speech." he says, causing everyone in the audience to sit down. _("i'm ready for the speech mister president," tubbo says rather dully, while quackity is the polar opposite, an enthusiastic, "yes sir!" coming from him.)_

he clears his throat, and begins his speech.

"PEOPLE OF L'MANBERG!" he roars, "and tommyinnit and wilbursoot, if you two are listening to this." schlatt says, hoping he'd be loud enough for them to hear, "and once we find them and expel them from our great nation, the sun will rise upon another beautiful day!" he promises, glancing a the crowd with a smirk, "the next page of the textbook!"

from beside him, he hears tubbo shift, fiddling with the hem of his shirt, and he can practically feel quackity beam.

he stares at the walls around l'manberg. he can never understand wilbur's fixation with safety using walls. the walls did nothing but restrict, safety is not a wall. it is power. _(and schlatt, not wilbur, had the power.)_

"i reckon our nation needs to expand!" he tells his people, tearing his eyes away from the walls, a smirk. "i reckon, we tear down the walls."

there are gasps from the crowd. he spots niki glaring at him, with eret holding her back. tubbo is staring at him, mouth agape and quackity is shocked.

tubbo speaks, "i don't know if that is a good idea." he tells him.

"we can't do that!" eret adds, sounding appalled at the idea of tearing the walls down.

schlatt ignores them both. "effective immediately!" he orders, "all citizens of l'manberg, are required to do that!"

"you have no right to do that!" niki protests, anger in her voice.

he only continues, "REQUIRED! to help, tear down the walls of this country." _("no!" niki shouts.)_ but he ignores her, "and that ends the second presidential speech."

"let's get to work."

_(atop a hill overlooking the lands of l'manberg, there arrives wilbur and tommy, the exiled leaders of l'manberg. they had heard the last part of the speech, the one where he talked about tearing the walls down and they headed there immediately, with tommy following wilbur around. "how do you know the way?" tommy asks, and wilbur glances back at him, "i just followed my heart and here i am.")_

schlatt orders tubbo to be the first to tear the wall down. tubbo is hesitant, and niki glares at him, it is evident.

"tubbo, tear it down," he orders, pointing at the sign that depicted- 'DO NOT TEAR DOWN', he ignores the fact that eret, dream smp's king and quackity, his own vice president, are defending it, begging tubbo to not tear it down.

tubbo tears the first one down without a word and he laughs as the others shriek.

"you have one last chance tubbo, one last chance." quackity says.

eret pleads with the younger boy, "don't do it tubbo!" _(is it because it was him, tubbo, tommy and fundy who built these walls? is that why he doesn't want them gone?)_

schlatt narrows his eyes, "tear the second one down too." he orders tubbo.

"yes schlatt." tubbo says, doing as he says, and schlatt laughs before looking around at the other l'manbergian citizens.

he points towards the still-standing walls, "what are you waiting for!?" he asks, "tear them down!" he orders, and the rest of them disperse, glaring at him while they do as he says.

_(tubbo weeps in his heart, because he liked the walls, it kept him so so safe, and it was one of the last things that l'manberg had that carried the essence of tommy and wilbur. it felt like he just betrayed them and he doesn't like, doesn't want it. why did schlatt have to win? why did schlatt have to turn his life upside down and tear it up again? hadn't he done enough the first time?)_

schlatt pats tubbo _(his son- his **son** that she took away.)_ on the back as the walls around them fall apart. he stares at fundy, who was mining away at the walls, and he narrows his eyes, the fox boy held similarity to a woman he used to know, a shapeshifter named sally, but surely, surely, it meant nothing.

_("my son is tearing down the walls in front of me!" wilbur says, tears threatening to fall, "he is tearing down the walls i built to keep him safe," he glances at ~~his brother~~ tommy, "i promised him this world tommy...")_

schlatt walks away, laughing as l'manbergians, who had lost their leaders, are left in the middle of their falling nation.

_(elsewhere, watching on top of a hill, there are two men, one kneeling and one standing. singing the anthem of a falling nation, one last time.)_

"l'manberg, my unfinished symphony!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you guys think i was gonna give you philza's interlude? bitch, we never get 4/4 content, so im not giving 4/4 content :)
> 
> this interlude took a long time because characterizing schlatt to be sort of like he was in canon but with sense is so difficult.
> 
> also, purpled mention :)
> 
> i'm so happy, punz and sapnap being brothers are canon now, happiest day of my life.
> 
> also, tubbo angst? we love tubbo angst mmm
> 
> remember, i'll answer any reasonable questions you guys have! so dont forget to ask if you want to!


	20. xvi.

# S I X T E EN

_❝the letter, and the lying in wait.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

"i have the letter ready." tommy says, holding up a slightly crumpled envelope.

wilbur, who had been organizing what little items they had in a chest, immediately shifts his attention towards tommy, "really?" he asks, "let me see, toms." he says, holding out his hand.

tommy hands him the letter, then watches as wilbur opens it, leaving the whitelisted card, but taking the letter and unfurling it.

> hey technoblade,
> 
> dunno if you remember me, but this is tommy. wilbur is with me and we desperately need your help.  
>  wilbur said to send you a letter, and that you'd be able to help us, but i don't really know.  
>  would you be willing to help us?
> 
> wilbur and i got exiled from l'manberg, a country that we made, and we need to take it back.  
>  we're starting a revolution, techno. and wilbur (and me) are hoping that you'd join us.
> 
> if you do plan on joining us, there's a whitelisted card in the envelope with the letter, don't ask me how i got it.  
>  just, try to join the server soon. i know you can't tell us when you'll join, you can't send a letter, they'll find out.
> 
> it would really mean a lot to us if you'd help.

wilbur hums in approval before placing the letter back in the envelope, "you should send this immediately," he says, "we can't waste any time."

"about that..." tommy nervously murmured, "my stamp is the ender chest."

wilbur's eyes widened, "mine is too."

fuck. well, that wasn't really good. stamps are used for letters sent outside the server, and they are irreplaceable. admins could message anyone to their heart's desire, even those outside the server, they just needed to click on that person's name in their communicators. but those that weren't admins, they were stuck with stamps. and if they lost their stamps, they wouldn't get another one, which is why they were usually placed in ender chests.

"we need an ender chest." wilbur says, "tommy, you should get one, stamp the letter, and then drop it off at the portal." he adds, "i'll attempt to distract them." _(how?)_

tommy nods in understatement, "should i grab a horse?" he asks, and wilbur shakes his head.

"too much attention," he says, "just sneak in and sneak out." he tells him, voice stern, "no shortcuts, no long trips, and absolutely no scenic routes."

tommy nods solemnly, knowing that he is definitely not gonna listen to wilbur.

wilbur huffs, "promise me tommy." he sternly says.

"i promise i won't do anything that isn't necessary." tommy promises solemnly.

a sigh. "just go." wilbur says, waving him away, "get an ender chest and send the letter." he orders.

"aye aye, captain!" tommy says, almost mocking in a light hearted way as he exits their meager dirt hut. he stares out at the trees and heads towards the general area of l'manberg and the greater dream smp, prepared to steal himself an ender chest.

he had been foraging the forest for nearly two hours now when he had finally come across l'manberg again, and he grips his coat, almost tearing the fabric. the walls were almost gone. only a small portion of it remained and it hurts him to see it.

he forces himself to walk around it, heading towards dream smp lands. after all, they wouldn't expect him to be so close to l'manberg, it was practically hiding in plain sight!

he knew that he couldn't go to his home, that would be too well guarded, they would expect it, and he couldn't go to tubbo's either, it was right in front of his, so tommy did the smart thing and headed towards dream's base.

dream's base was way underground, and no one, at least, no one on schlatt's side, except for maybe george, knew about it. it was completely hidden and there was no trace of it above ground. it was a perfect place for him to go without getting caught, the only real problem was if dream was there, but he'd cross that bridge when he gets there.

after a few agonizingly long minutes, tommy had found himself in a familiar room with yellow concrete walls and floor, he stares at the chests messily placed around the room and is reminded of a simpler time, before the wars, when dream had first taken him to the secret base.

_(dream smiling at him, his mask only covering half of his face, "come on tommy!" the admin calls out as he leads the younger underground, "hurry up!" he adds.  
and behind him, tommy grumbles, "i am hurrying up!" he retorts, "where are we going anyways?" he asks.  
dream only laughs.  
"we're going to my secret base, tommy." dream says, "just promise not to tell anyone, okay?"  
tommy nods excitedly, "promise!" he replies.  
and finally, after crawling through some stone, they had finally arrived at his base, and the first thing tommy said was- "it's kinda messy in here."  
dream wheezes, which somehow reminds tommy of one of those tea kettles, "that's the first thing you say!?"  
"well, what else was i supposed to say!?" tommy retorts with a scowl.  
dream pretends to think for a moment before replying, "not that?"  
tommy narrows his eyes, "why you-" and dream's secret base erupts in light hearted banter and chaos.  
after a few minutes, they had calmed down for a bit, and dream offhandedly mentions bringing tubbo here in the following week.  
the following week comes and goes and tubbo never sees dream's secret bunker, they wage war for l'manberg's freedom before he could.)_

tommy shakes his head out of the memory and he looks around the room for an ender chest, and upon finding one, he opens it, and grabs his stamp.

he quickly stamps the envelope and returns the stamp into the ender chest, and of course, since they needed an ender chest, he painstakingly mines the ender chest for a few seconds, bordering a minute.

he leaves dream's base with one of the ender chests, and here comes the harder part, getting the envelope out of the server.

getting the envelope was hard because he needed to go to the portal in spawn, and with the walls built there to prevent the hostile mobs from killing the newly spawned players, that meant that it was practically a death trap. if they caught wind of him there, he'd be easily trapped with those walls.

the first thing tommy did was head towards the forest, since it would give him the most cover in case someone was there, before he even got to the forest though, he was spotted by quackity, which caused him to start sprinting.

his communicator beeped.

` **quackity** : i just saw tommy in the land between manberg and his house! he's heading towards the direction of manberg, last i saw him. `

tommy ignores the message _(later, he frowns as he looks at it, 'manberg?' he thinks, he doesn't like how it sounds.)_ and turns a diagonal right, trying to blind travel the forest.

it takes him a full half an hour to find spawn, and upon finding it, he enters the boundaries of the walls and heads towards the portal, as soon as he was in front of it, he immediately throws the envelope towards the portal, and he watches it disappear before quickly leaving the confines of spawn, in fear of them finding him and trapping him.

now, he has a problem. their new base was far away in the direction of l'manberg, and everyone in l'manberg probably knew that quackity had spotted him in dream smp lands by now. so the journey back had just gotten much more difficult.

his communicator beeped again.

` _ wilbursoot whispered to you: tommy, what the fuck did you do? _ `

well, this has been fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have decided to not watch any of the vods and just wing it. this is gonna be extremely canon divergent since pogtopia's timeline confuses the fuck out of me.
> 
> look guys, dream and tommy being all brotherly has so much angst potential, especially since he doesn't act lke that with his real brothers, and especially since the exile arc is- [GUNSHOT]
> 
> also since i need clout, i sometimes post drabbles in my twitter account so you guys should definitely follow it. *cough cough* @itsyagirlac_ *cough cough*
> 
> also since apparently the l'manberg war happened seven years ago (according to fundy), that means that tommy and tubbo were nine during it, sapnap eleven-twelve, dream thirteen, george, wilbur and punz sixteen-seventeen, are canon(?) ages now, would you guys like a smol fic about it?
> 
> also, badboyhalo is now canonically sapnap's father, i love february.
> 
> you guys should comment questions, i'd definitely answer them all haha <3


	21. xvii.

# S E V E N T E EN

_❝ ~~l~~ 'manberg, not mine anymore.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

the first thing tommy did was place his ender chest down and see what was inside it.

the items there were mostly useless, a few diamond blocks, some gold blocks. nothing that could help him out of the situation. 

his hands were shaking, _(he was on his last life.)_ as he rummaged the chest, till finally- _finally_ , he found something useful.

two ender pearls. while tommy would have preferred more, that was enough. it just meant that he needed to rely on his own agility to outpace schlatt and the rest of the people in l'manberg. but it was fine, he could do it.

tommy takes a deep breath as he pockets the ender pearls. after grabbing the ender chest, he breaks into a sprint, making sure to keep himself hidden in the trees.

he passes by his house- _(niki, quackity, eret, george and fundy are there, they are standing near his house, they are looking for him, like they expect him to show himself, like they expect him to go to his house. tommy is not stupid.)_ on the way to l'manberg, but he quickly walks away, after all, wilbur would get mad if he got himself captured.

after a few minutes, he finds himself staring at l'manberg. _(the walls, the walls are mostly gone. the walls that they built to protect l'manberg was gone gone GONE-)_ and standing there was schlatt, tubbo and punz. schlatt had a hand on tubbo's shoulder and punz was-

well, punz was looking right at him.

tommy gulps, then he turns around and _runs_.

behind him, he could hear punz informing schlatt of his whereabouts, behind him, he can hear schlatt's roar, his orders for punz to catch him and to bring him back alive to manberg, and it only inspires him to run further. _(what tommy doesn't see is tubbo's concerned glance, his mouth agape. he doesn't see the way tubbo tries his best to delay punz.)_

tommy is quick and speedy, he knows how to traverse a forest in one of the quickest ways possible. _(dream taught him. dream taught him before-)_ but even with all that, he is no match for punz, who quickly catches up to him and grabs him by the arm. _(of course he wouldn't be able to evade punz, punz **taught** dream.)_

"stop struggling tommy." punz orders him, dragging the wayward boy to his former country. tommy only glares at punz and struggles even more, and punz- punz sighs at tommy's stubborn behavior. _(he is reminded of a fiery blaze hybrid, with anger issues.)_

tommy is dragged back to l'manberg, and schlatt smirks at the sight of him. tommy ignores him though, in favor of tubbo. tubbo who is looking at him, concern shining in his eyes, and tommy almost smiles, because of course, tubbo was on his side!

schlatt clears his throat, "well, hello there tommyinnit," he says, "what were you doing near manberg?" he asks, "if i recall, you're exiled."

tommy grits his teeth, "first of all, it's l'manberg." he says, glaring fiercely at the ram hybrid, "and second of all, i'm exiled in _l'manberg_ , not the land around it, or the greater dream smp." he smugly says, grinning.

"my country does not take L's, tommyinnit." schlatt says, "and besides, you're in manberg right now aren't you?"

tommy rolls his eyes, "yeah, but only because you dragged me here, you.. you-" _(he remembers a word wilbur taught him.)_ "-you old sot!"

silence, then schlatt glares at him, hands curling. he doesn't know what the phrase he just said meant, but judging by the way schlatt reacted, it was nothing good.

schlatt glares at him, but tommy only stares at him defiantly, and schlatt- schlatt had enough of him, of his smartass mouth, and he wonders how wilbur puts up with him.

a loud smack can be heard.

tommy's grin has faded, and his left cheek had stung from where schlatt had slapped him. he looks down for a moment, trying to ignore tubbo, who had been screaming at schlatt about how it was child abuse. he takes a deep breath, and the hand gripping his arm had loosened.

punz had apparently been shocked by schlatt's actions, at least, to the point where his grip on tommy had loosened for a second, but it was fine. all tommy needed was a second anyways.

tommy yanks his arm away from punz and immediately sticks it into his pocket, where he had placed his ender pearls, he grabbed one of them and- _(punz was near him, trying to grab him again, schlatt was trying to drag tubbo away, as to make sure that the younger wouldn't sabotage them.)_ -he threw it, not in the direction of his and wilbur's new base, but to the left of it, he didn't want to lead them to their new base.

he disappears with a pop, just as punz was about to grab him, had he been a second late, it would have been null, punz would have grounded him enough that the pearl didn't work, but it did work, and he finds himself in a forest.

one pearl down, only one more left.

he doesn't know where he is, but he does know that he's not in l'manberg anymore. which is good, he would have fiddled with his communicator, activated the debug that let him see his coordinates, but he didn't have time, schlatt had probably ordered punz to chase him, and this time, he wouldn't be brought in alive. he needed to _run_.

so he does. he uses his last pearl to go further down the left side, just to make sure that he still has a huge distance ahead of punz, so that the older boy wouldn't be able to catch up to him.

he sprints, forwards at first, further to the left of their new base to make sure he didn't lead them to it, after all, he didn't want to make wilbur angrier than needed to be, and after an hour, he swerved a hard right, going towards their base.

it is forty minutes later that he manages to return to their base, with an angry wilbur standing in front of their inconspicuous hole in the side of a dirt hill. their secret base of operations, their dirt hut.

wilbur stands there, hands in his hips, an angry expression in his face, which at first, intensifies when he sees tommy.

wilbur approaches him, grasping his arm tightly, "what have you done? where have you been?" he asks sternly, voice full of frustration.

tommy winces and looks away to the right, accidentally exposing his left cheek, which schlatt had slapped, and wilbur's tone immensely changed.

"who did this!?" wilbur asks, in a flurry of anger, concern seeping into his tone. he touches the mark gently, and his eyes are ablaze.

wilbur stares at him again, "tell me who did this." he demands, and tommy answers.

"it was schlatt."

a spark has ignited.

"i'll _kill_ him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! i wasn't supposed to upload a chapter at all, but it's my birthday! and i wanted to share it with you guys, so i decided to upload a chapter! a bit rushed at the end, but hey, it's good, isn't it? 
> 
> the contents of this chapter by the way, did not happen in canon. this was the result of my two remaining braincells trying to cobble together something, anything.
> 
> old sot, by the way, means drunk person, so schlatt really didn't like that.
> 
> i'll answer any questions y'all ask!


	22. xviii.

# E I G H T E EN

_❝we don't associate with traitors, eret.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

"wilbur-" tommy tries to pry wilbur's fingers off his wrist, "-let go!"

to his surprise, wilbur let go of him, taking a step back, and as tommy looked up at him, he could almost discern shock in wilbur's expression.

wilbur quickly placed a hand on his chin, "sorry about that tommy, it's just- i don't really know what to do, you know," he says, glancing at tommy, who was flicking his wrist, "and well, it's just you and me now, i can't afford for you to get hurt." 

tommy looks up at him, and his expression softens, "i forgive you." he says, sincerely, and wilbur smiles softly at him, then tommy observes their small dirt hut, and he finds a small hole- a spiral staircase down, and his eyebrow furrows, "wil, what's this?" he asks.

wilbur glances at what tommy was looking at, and he smiles, "see, while you were out getting yourself in trouble, tommy," _("hey!" tommy shouts from the background, but much to his chagrin, wilbur ignores him.)_ , "i was being productive," wilbur tells him, then he points to the chests, "i organized our chests, and then i thought, 'hey, tommy and i need a base! so how about i make one?' y'know, normal thoughts," wilbur says, walking towards the spiral staircase, and going down it, with tommy following suit, "so i did, but then, as i staircased down, i found this ravine," he points around, and tommy looks in awe, "and i just basically terraformed it a bit to get rid of all that lava and stuff, and now, here's our base." 

tommy looks around, "woah- this is so fucking cool, wilbur!" he exclaims, and ahead of him, wilbur smiles faintly, a hint of pride in his eyes and the way he holds himself.

"why, thank you tommy." wilbur says, puffing his chest up, then as an afterthought, he adds, "though, you will need to help with adding rooms and all that, to make this a functional base and all."

tommy nods excitedly, "sure wil, i'll help! you probably need my help anyways," tommy says proudly, and wilbur stifles a laugh, which causes tommy to glare at him and demand that he stop laughing and tell him what was so funny, but that only causes wilbur to laugh harder.

after calming down, tommy took a few breaths, then he speaks, "what are we going to do, wilbur?" he asks.

"what do you mean, tommy?" wilbur asks, "i mean, we gotta fix this ravine up-"

tommy interrupts him, "no, i mean-" his voice becomes softer, "how are we gonna get l'manberg back?"

wilbur glances at him, and tommy looks away. _(wilbur notices the fact that tommy is anxious, that he is impatient, he wants to do something. he notices it because of the fact that tommy's hands are shaking, of the fact that he is tapping his foot once in a while. he is itching for something exciting to do.)_

"what if we head over to l'manberg, check how it's doing, how about that?" wilbur suggests, "then we'll figure out what we should do next."

tommy hesitantly nods. he should be excited to see l'manberg again, it's his home! he lives there, everyone he loves lives there, but what happened a few hours ago still clearly affected him, so he wasn't all that eager. but he couldn't pass up a chance to be on l'manberg again, so he agreed.

"we have to stay super far away though tommy, understand?" wilbur warns him, and tommy sharply nods.

at tommy's nod, wilbur smiles at him, "good, now come on," he glances at his communicator, "we need to leave now if we want to get there before the sun rises." he says, climbing up the stairs again, with tommy following behind him.

wilbur walks out of their new base, and as tommy walks out, he covers the door with dirt, and when tommy asks why, wilbur claims that it's for 'safety precautions', tommy just thinks he's being stupid and paranoid.

the walk to l'manberg took an hour and a half, which was terribly long, but tommy had been determined to make it as entertaining as possible, and besides, wilbur looked like he needed a laugh, he had been a bit too serious lately, and even with being exiled and having to take their country back from an untrustworthy tyrant that was wilbur's friend, he still wanted wilbur to loosen up a bit.

once they got to a hill that slightly overlooked l'manberg- though not too near that they could hear anything, wilbur pushed him back, as to make sure that they weren't spotted at all, "this is as far as we go, tommy." wilbur says, and tommy holds back a frown, unhappy at their predicament.

he says nothing though, and just looks down at l'manberg, where schlatt stands at the podium, with quackity at his side. he seemed to be saying a speech, tommy realizes, but they are too far away, and the wind is too loud for him to hear what they are saying, so tommy doesn't bother with them and instead shifts his attention to the crowd. he can see tubbo amongst the crowd, the nearest to the stage, and he can see niki there, can see jack, and fundy, those who used to be on their sides- no, they were still on his and wilbur's side, they're just forced to be there by schlatt. he shakes that thought away and focuses back on the crowd, and to his disbelief, he can see citizens of the greater dream smp amongst them, like ponk, like punz. though he finds it strange that eret, a former l'manbergian and the greater dream smp's king wasn't amongst them.

"hello gentlemen," they hear behind them, and both of them freeze.

they recognize that voice.

tommy turns around to find eret, there is shock in his expression, and he almost bounds forward because he missed eret, he really did, but wilbur holds him back though, and tommy forces himself to remember what eret did, of the fact that eret had betrayed them and he stills.

"what are you doing here?" wilbur asks, anger evident in his voice.

tommy can feel eret's stare, but he says nothing, he doesn't trust himself to speak, in fear that he might say something that he shouldn't. _(maybe he should, an 'i miss you' wouldn't be bad, and neither would be 'why')_

eret clears his throat and speaks, "i think you might need my help," he says, "i could offer you my castle as a sanctuary and whatever resources i have," tommy sees him glance at l'manberg, "dream feels uneasy with the fact that schlatt wants to expand manberg's borders, and while it is beneficial for the greater dream smp to pretend to be aligned with schlatt's regime, it will not be opposed to overthrowing schlatt's rule." he explains, outstretching a hand. _(eret does not say that he still cares, that he doesn't want them to get hurt, to destroy themselves. maybe he should have, but it is too late for that.)_

"first of all, it's l'manberg," wilbur scoffs, his hand gripping tommy's wrist tightly, "and second of all, we don't need your help, eret, because you know what?" he asks, squeezing tommy's wrist, "we don't associate with traitors, eret." _(you should know that.)_

"gentlemen, you need my help," eret insists, and though tommy couldn't see his eyes, he could almost see that-, "you're going against a whole nation, and unlike the war against the greater dream smp, you aren't a nation yourselves," he could see that he almost looked concerned, "you need all the help that you could get."

wilbur glares at eret, and if tommy observed closely, he could almost see poison in wilbur's glare, but eret does not flinch, he stays there, hand outstretched, waiting for them to accept his help.

"i've built a nation before," wilbur starts, tone full of anger and a hint of bitterness, "i'll fucking build one again!"

tommy can't help but feel fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoooo! i honestly loved this chapter so much, it's quite possibly my favorite chapter for now.
> 
> yeah! eret redemption pog! we love to see it.
> 
> also, to the fellow writers reading this, am i the only one that writes the beginning of the chapter and then immediately writes the ending and spends three hours trying to write what happens in the middle or do y'all write it linearly, i wanna know if my writing style is weird.
> 
> since the next interlude is pretty close, wanna guess who's interlude it is? 
> 
> don't forget to ask questions! i'll reply to any comments you guys make because comments fuel my writing tbh.
> 
> love you guys <3


	23. xix.

# N I N E T E EN

_❝tommy, ~~let's be~~ are we the bad guys?❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

for a moment, there is silence, then eret speaks up again, desperate to convince them to let him help. _(he wants to repent for what he's done- for betraying them. dream didn't give him what was promised, dream **lied** to him. they had **died** in that control room, and what eret got didn't justify that. dream promised him something that he couldn't give and eret had betrayed his friends for nothing. he wants redemption.)_

"gentlemen-" he tries to say, but he is swiftly interrupted by wilbur, who is glaring daggers at him.

wilbur's voice is calm, though if he listened closely, he could hear anger simmering beneath the tone.

"actually, eret," he spoke casually, "tommy and i are just leaving." his tone hardens, "thank you for your kind offer, but we don't need to hear your bullshit and lies, eret." then wilbur glances down at him, and his voice takes a softer tone, "right, tommy?" he asks.

tommy hesitantly nods, "yeah.." he murmurs, trying to smile.

"see?" wilbur says, dragging him away, slowly but surely. "you can go now, king eret." he adds, the last part was said in an almost mocking tone.

eret furrows his eyebrows and makes a move to stop them, but both of them had already retreated towards the forest, and tommy's last glimpse of eret is the king standing alone, with a sullen posture and a defeated look.

wilbur drags tommy along, heading towards their base. his previously happy expression had soured, and that was probably not a good thing, tommy realized.

"um.. wil?" he asks, slightly tugging at his wrists, "can you let me go?"

wilbur immediately lets go of his wrist and steps away, as if he had been poisoned. tommy looks up at his eyes and finds a shocked and agape expression on wilbur's face, and on his eyes- there were a flurry of emotions, most of which, tommy couldn't recognize or discern, but what he could, consisted of shock, of regret, though, tommy didn't exactly know why.

"i- i'm really sorry about that tommy," wilbur says, "did i hold your hand too tight? are you hurt?" he asks, concern seeping in his tone and expression.

tommy shakes his head, "maybe a little bit, but it's fine wil." he reassures, and wilbur sighs in relief. _(he didn't hurt him. he didn't hurt his baby brother- his little toms. that was good.)_

"that's good." wilbur says, as he continues to walk through the forest, "it's really good that you're not hurt."

tommy slowly nods as he follows, "yeah, it really is." he hesitantly says.

after that, there is suffocating silence. the two of them traverse through the forest to their new base. tommy does not do well with silence, it is awkward and it suffocates him, he has never liked being alone and silence makes him feel very lonely. he would break the ice- he would speak first, but he doesn't really know what to say, what he should talk about. perhaps reminding wilbur of what happened earlier would remind him of their talk with eret, and it would anger him.

he could- but no, it was best for wilbur to speak first.

tommy would just have to suffer in silence for a little bit, until wilbur calmed himself and collected his thoughts enough to speak.

that moment arrives a few minutes later, when wilbur asks tommy a very important question.

"tommy, are we the bad guys?"

_(looking back on this, maybe this is the question that ruined his life. wilbur asking if he was the bad guy- maybe it was the domino that caused his life to go downhill. maybe this was the question that lead to l'manberg's eventual demise. maybe this was what led a once great and prosperous country to ruin. but that was the future, this right now is the present. and for now, it was just a not-so-harmless question that tommy needed to answer.)_

"no." tommy answers firmly, "we're not the bad guys, we can't be the bad guys." he adds, and it almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

wilbur hums and looks back at him, "why not?" he asks.

"because we started l'manberg, and we should have won that vote." tommy says in reply.

wilbur stares at him, "tommy, schlatt.. he won fairly," _("if you could even call pooling their votes fairly." tommy scoffs.)_ "-shush child, he won fairly and we lost, and now we're trying to take l'manberg back, doesn't that sound like we're the bad guys?" he asks.

tommy stubbornly shakes his head, "no! schlatt didn't even win fairly, they had to pool votes, which was totally unfair." he points out, causing wilbur to sigh, "and we're only taking l'manberg back because he had the audacity to exile us! we're the founding fathers!" he exclaims, "besides, did you hear him? he called himself an emperor, what a pompous prick." tommy muttered, voce turning bitter at the end.

wilbur laughs, ruffling tommy's hair, which elicited a laugh and a small "hey!" from the younger boy, "i guess, i guess you're right, toms." wilbur says, and if tommy had listened more carefully _(he didn't)_ he would have noticed the strain in wilbur's voice, the way he put on this forced tone.

"i'm always right!" tommy says proudly, then after a beat, he pulls away from wilbur and _sprints_ , "race you to our base!" tommy hollered behind him.

tommy does not look behind him as he runs. if he did, he would have seen wilbur's slightly dark expression, implying that their talks about being the bad guy wasn't over yet. but that was for another day, for now, wilbur schools his expression into a more neutral one, and he chased after tommy.

this was almost like before, tommy thinks, before botched elections and exiles, before wilbur had come to him with an idea of an election, and heck, even before- even before revolutions and wars and l'manberg.

he could almost imagine it was dream, chasing after him, tubbo and sapnap, with george watching, too tired to run. back then, when it was days full of laughter and sunshines and promises and they didn't have to worry about three lives.

but this was reality, and tommy wakes up to it as wilbur catches up to him and lightly shoves him in the shoulder, laughing.

tommy thinks. 

"wilbur," he speaks, "did you mean it?" tommy asks, staring at the older man.

wilbur furrows his eyebrows in confusion, "mean what?" he asked, "you gotta be more specific, toms."

"that you were gonna be starting a new nation to fight l'manberg."

wilbur stops for a moment and thinks, "yeah," he replies, "guess i did mean it."

_(will this be another l'manberg?)_

tommy hums under his breath to hide his uneasiness with the fact that wilbur would be starting a new nation just to fight l'manberg, a place that tommy had died twice for. he wants to ask why, why he thought it would be a good idea, but- "what will we call it?" he asks instead.

a smile.

"pogtopia," wilbur says, "is a wonderful name, isn't it?"

pogtopia doesn't really evoke a feeling of warmth and _home_ that l'manberg does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to have another part with tubbo in it, but the chapter got a bit too long so i'm moving it to the next chapter! that also means that technoblade joining the dream smp will be moved after the interlude, sorry guys!
> 
> idk if you guys know what eret asked for yet, is it too vague? i'll reveal it in his interlude though! so stay tuned for that one.
> 
> and this is the start of pogtopia! god i do not miss this place at all, when i saw pogtopia i was like- 'bitch you live like this?'
> 
> don't forget, ask questions and y'all will receive answers!


	24. xx.

# T W E N T Y

_❝it's tubbo! he's here now.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

it takes them another thirty minutes to reach their new base- _pogtopia_. tommy doesn't really like it, that wilbur had named pogtopia as a country so quickly, like he was trying to replace l'manberg.

tommy goes down to the ravine, which was supposedly their new home, their new country, pogtopia, and he shivers. where l'manberg had been open, had been _freedom_ and the sun and warmth, pogtopia was darkness and cold and tight and it felt _so_ suffocating to be here. it is not the home that l'manberg ~~is~~ used to be.

wilbur though, does not seem to mind as he prances about the ravine, flitting to every corner as he details to tommy about his plans to make this ravine look nicer. as he does so, his voice echoes slightly at the cold cavernous walls that make him feel so trapped. tommy does not like it.

wilbur tells him of plans for a barracks for training, of a room for potato farms, a room for a portal, he tells tommy all about his plans to make pogtopia an underground nation, making it strong enough to be able to take l'manberg back from schlatt's tyranny.

_("you claim we're the good guys, do you not, tommy?" wilbur had asked him, his voice echoing throughout the ravine, and tommy forces himself to look at wilbur's eyes, where a strange emotion that he didn't recognize (insanity-it was insanity, why?) stirred.)_

tommy doesn't really see the point to starting a new country to take back l'manberg, isn't it pointless? if they took back l'manberg, pogtopia would be deserted, and this new nation, the one that wilbur was currently pouring his heart out, planning and plotting to make this as strong as their l'manberg had been- it would just be a relic of the past, of a time when l'manberg wasn't theirs. what would become of pogtopia when they eventually retrieved l'manberg?

when he voiced out his concerns to wilbur, the older initially waved him off, as if dismissing his questions, but when tommy asked again, wilbur sighed, like he was tired, and he glanced at the younger.

"tommy," he says, tone almost condescending, "we need to take l'manberg back because of schlatt's tyranny, right?" wilbur asked, glancing at tommy with a soft expression.

tommy hesitantly nods, and at that, wilbur beams at him, ruffling his hair, looking proud.

"and because we need to take l'manberg back, we need to do it with any means possible." wilbur tells him, "even if it means starting a nation and waging war while it is unfinished."

tommy purses his lips, "but why do we need to start a country to wage war?" he asks, "can't we just wage war as individuals?"

wilbur, for a millisecond, furrows his eyebrows, but it disappears as quickly as it came. "it actually stems from smpearth," he says, "where the concept of countries were first created, before it, people waged wars as individuals, like you said."

"then what changed?" tommy asked.

wilbur lowers his voice, and it no longer echoes around the ravine, "the concept of countries had become popularized, and to prevent countless of wars tearing servers apart, it became law that to wage war, you must first start a country." at tommy's agape expression, he continued, "it was what tore smpearth apart."

tommy wanted to ask if l'manberg too, was a ploy for war, but before he could, his communicator buzzed.

wilbur narrows his eyes at his communicator, "who is it?" he asks, as tommy glances down to see why his communicator had buzzed.

his blood ran cold. 

"it's tubbo." he answers, staring at the private message that tubbo had sent.

` _ tubbo_ whispered to you: tommy can you tell me where you are? im on your side. _ `

and oh- tommy wants to, he desperately wants to tell tubbo.

"what does tubbo say?" wilbur asks him, tone and expression both ~~deceptively~~ calm.

tommy answers, "he wants to know where we are," he says, and his eyes light up, "and he says he's on our side wilbur!" he adds in exclamation.

_(tubbo makes tommy happy, he does. wilbur should allow them to meet, but he can't trust tubbo right now, he used to, back in the good old l'manberg days but things were different now, tubbo worked with schlatt, and schlatt hurt ~~him~~ his little brother, schlatt must pay. if tubbo hurt his little brother too- if tubbo betrayed his brother's trust- he would pay as well. but for now, wilbur would trust him.)_

"not on the ravine tommy," wilbur sternly says, "give him the coordinates in the woods, slightly far off from pogtopia."

tommy beams, because wilbur actually let him speak with tubbo, "i will! thanks!" he excitedly says, hurrying up the stairs and bursting through the dirt covered doorway before sprinting through the forest, with an amused wilbur following behind.

once he found a small clearing, not far from pogtopia, he immediately messaged tubbo his coordinates.

` _ tubbo_ whispered to you: on my way tommy :) _ `

he bursts into an infectious grin. tubbo was coming, he was on their side!

the sun was just setting as tubbo arrived, complaining about the heat and about how far their new base was from l'manberg, and as tommy joins in with witty banter, wilbur observes. _(tubbo is dressed like schlatt, he thinks.)_

tubbo is quick to fill them in as to what was now happening at l'manberg- well, manberg now.

_("it's actually manberg now, schlatt decreed it." tubbo offhandedly says.  
tommy looks on in horror, "what!?" he asks, "why would he change it?" he demands.  
tubbo shrugs, "something about taking no L's, apparently."  
wilbur scoffs, "i mean, manberg sounds horrible without the L, so i think he just took an L."  
that caused the two teenagers to laugh, and for wilbur to flash them both a sincere smile.)_

tubbo, with his sad eyes, had told wilbur of niki's predicament.

_("schlatt wasn't really too happy with niki being so out spoken." tubbo tells them, "he's started taxing her."_  
_wilbur scowls, "but we disbanded taxes, even the greater dream smp doesn't follow the tax rule anymore!" he protests.  
tubbo purses his lips, "schlatt doesn't really care about that.")_

and as the moon rises, tubbo turns to leave, after all, he was still technically schlatt's right hand man, if he went missing, it would be chaos. but before he could go, tommy stops him with a single question-

"tubbo, are you happy there?"

tubbo freezes and he turns around to look at tommy, who looks at him seriously.

"i don't really know," he admits, "it's really stressful and there's always arguing."

wilbur glances at him, "then would you like to be our spy, tubbo?" he asks, and both tommy and tubbo glance at him, curiosity in their eyes. "you'd pretend to work with schlatt, gain his favor, and then give us information, and i promise you, that when we take l'manberg back, you won't have to stress yourself out anymore." he promises, honey-coated words dripping from his mouth.

"deal!" tubbo enthusiastically says, and tommy beams. _(both of them too naive- too young.)_

tubbo's a good kid, wilbur decides, as tubbo waves them goodbye and runs back off to manberg, even if he did betray them and side with schlatt, he was a good kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys im worldbuilding, are you proud?
> 
> and whoops, tubbo's here! and he's now a spy for pogtopia, whoo!
> 
> chapter is a bit short but i wanted to get this out before exam week because i will be so busy during exam week because not only is it exam week, but it's also project week! i need to do so much cramming. i will post less in exam week, but i'll still be answering comments, so don't worry, i won't be completely gone.
> 
> and remember that if you want to ask questions, i'll answer it because comments are my one true validation.


	25. fundy's interlude.

# I N T E R L U D E

_❝the flag.❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

the walls are almost gone now, there are only a few blocks left remaining, and schlatt's attention had turned to the flag.

_("i want it gone!" he had said, "replaced!" his eyes glinted with cruelty, "we will make a new flag for our new and much stronger manberg!" he had decreed._

_fundy should follow.)_

he stares at l'manberg's flag, waving in the wind. the beautifully woven colors or red, blue, yellow and black coming together and making a wonderful flag ~~_of a nation, gone_~~. it was a pity he had to destroy it.

_(he remembers the day that the flag was made. wilbur skillfully sketching out whatever words had come out of fundy's mouth as his son tried desperately to make up a flag, he remembers everyone bossing jack manifold- their newest member around, ordering him to collect materials, he remembers niki's soft laughter being heard across the room as she patiently taught tubbo and tommy how to sew, both of them were probably proficient with it by now. he remembers flying the flag for the first time, seeing everyone's proud smiles and cheerful dispositions because they had made a flag that symbolized them. and now fundy had to tear it down.)_

fundy stares at the flag, and his fingers find it's way to the flint and steel in his pocket. the cold steel does not bring him comfort, it is far too reminiscent of the various explosions that their country had faced, but it must. he needs the flint and steel for whatever he would be doing now, and as he glances at the flag, he sighs.

he has to burn it. _(will it worth it?)_

fundy approaches the flag, only stopping once near it's base. he takes the flint and steel out of his pocket and prepares himself for what he was going to do.

there is no room for hesitation here, and as much as he would like to, he does not. he almost falters as he pushes the flint and steel towards the string used to raise the flag, but he continues. he pushes the flint and steel together, colliding them, and as they collided, there came sparks, and there came fire.

he watches in amazement as the flames rise higher and higher. he takes a few steps back as the flames reaches the flag, the edges closest to the fire already looking burnt. maybe he would have stayed there- staring at the fire for ages, if not for a small and horrified gasp behind him.

niki.

he turns to meet her, and just like a sly and deceptive fox- the ones her mother loved to turn into, he adopts a mask of indifference. he acts as if he is detached from the situation, apathetic.

he does not expect a raging and crying niki, but he does not let his mask slip. he needs to make this believable. _(he needs to make this worth it.)_

"fundy!" niki screams, "how could you!?"

fundy does not respond. _(he remembers a smiling niki, eyes glinting with pride as she watches tommy and tubbo painstakingly sew their own versions of the flag.)_

niki hurls insults at him, she demands answers, and she probably would have attacked him if not for eret, who had shown up and had restrained niki, though he still looks at fundy with disbelief. 

_(niki's actions remind him of tommy, funnily enough.)_

fundy keeps his indifferent mask, he plays the charade, even as niki shouts at him, even as eret looks at him with disappointment, even if- 

"what is the meaning of this?" 

schlatt. 

he turns to the side to find schlatt, eyebrows raised. 

"mr. president!" fundy speaks, "i thought, well, since we were replacing the flag, why not burn it? to symbolize us getting rid of the last remnants of l'manberg." 

a beat. 

schlatt smiles, "good thinking, fundy." he says, patting the fox hybrid on the back, and fundy would commemorate himself on a job well done, but- 

"what would wilbur say if he saw you like this!?" niki asked, raising her voice, "you just betrayed your father!" 

great. thanks niki.

schlatt halts, and the smile on his face fades. 

"king eret, please escort nihachu out, you both are dismissed." schlatt says. 

eret shoots him a concerned look before placing a hand on niki's shoulder and leading her away. 

absolutely brilliant. this was off to a good start. 

"wilbur's your father?" schlatt asks, staring intently at him that fundy almost squirms. 

fundy does not want to say it, but he does. he needs schlatt's trust, after all.

"no," he starts, "wilbur may be my father by blood, but he did not raise me." _(he did he did he did-)_ "i have no father." he continues, unflinching. 

schlatt stares at him, an undecipherable expression in his face, "good," he speaks, "starting tomorrow, you'll be joining the cabinet meetings as manberg's chairman." he says, then he smirks, "i look forward to seeing you there." schlatt says, turning his back and walking away, not bothering to hear fundy's reply. _(he narrows his eyes. he had thought that tommy would be wilbur's son, but he was sorely mistaken, it had turned out to be fundy. but that begs the question, who was tommyinnit to wilbur soot?)_

"bye!" fundy says, voice nearly faltering. he had done it, it was small, but he had gained a bit schlatt's trust. he could learn about manberg secrets and help his father now! _so why-_

there are memories thrown about his head, memories of wilbur raising him, always being there for him, telling him stories about his formidable family, teaching him everything he could and- comforting him when his mother had died and promising to take him someplace new and safe.

this was not safe, he realizes, he is in the middle of enemy territory and his allies _(friends-family)_ think him a traitor. he is not safe. wilbur _lied_.

_is it worth it?_ a little voice in his head crooned, _is it worth distancing yourself from your friends and family, making them believe you betrayed them- siding with the man that threw your father out, all for a bit of information that probably wouldn't make a difference?_ it adds, and he really doesn't know.

he takes a final look at the burning flag, a final glimpse of the nation that was- and he thinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my exams are over now, and you know what that means- back to our regular upload schedule! 
> 
> chapter is a bit shorter than others, but eh, i just got back lmao.
> 
> so yeah, the flag is gone now, that's fun. i was actually debating on fundy or niki for this, but i decided to use niki for a later interlude, so we got fundy.
> 
> i just love sad angsty characters so fundy has a character arc now! also, yikes, fundy just disowned wilbur, and schaltt knows now that fundy is wilbur's son. what a mad banquet of darkness.
> 
> the recent streams broke me ngl, i mean- tommy dying and getting revived almost immediately? how did dream even do that in prison, how did he get access to the revive book?
> 
> any questions in the comments will be answered, i assure you.


	26. xxi.

# T W E N T Y - O N E

_❝did someone say rebellion?❞_

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

tommy glances at the letter that tubbo had sent to them, and he grits his teeth. the contents of the letter were bound to make wilbur angry, and tommy did not want to see it.

> to mellohi,
> 
> you probably don't know, but the ram held a meeting today, and he introduced the fox as his new chairman. i know, it shocked the bee and the duck as well. you don't know this, but the ram actually talked about getting rid of the flag, because you know, it's a new country now. from what he said in the meeting, the fox actually burnt the flag down and proposed making a new flag. the ram also said something about disowning the general too, but i don't know if that's true.
> 
> i talked to the baker and the king, and apparently, the fox did not show much remorse for the flag.  
>  the baker was very emotional about it, but the king didn't answer much, like he was hiding something, or like he had something to do with it. not sure.  
>  i wonder how the general feels about this.
> 
> that was all the information i could gather today, if i have any additional, i'll just add it to the next letter i'll send.
> 
> sincerely, cat.

tubbo's letter didn't seem like it came from tubbo, but that was smart. he even referred to himself as 'the bee' during the letter, subtle.

but that didn't matter for now, what mattered was what the letter had implied.

fundy had burnt down the flag that they had made, planned to design a new flag to replace it, and had disowned wilbur.

tommy remembered how wilbur reacted when fundy tore down the walls, and he didn't want to see how he'd react to fundy burning down the flag.

 _their_ flag.

_(tommy remembers the day that the flag was made. fundy had been the one to think of the design for it, and he was probably thinking of a design for the new country right now, and tommy wonders if he'll see remnants of the old flag in it. he wonders if the colors will remain, the vibrant colors that were taken from the uniform that they had worn. he wonders if the semi circle would remain, fundy had thought of that, of course, so perhaps it remained. he wonders if the three large x marks had remained. the ones that symbolized the three important events in their independence ; dream's declaration of war, the final control room, and the duel for freedom. he thinks of the days where niki would teach him and tubbo how to sew and he wonders if even then, fundy had been a traitor as well.)_

"is that the letter from tubbo?" a voice asks behind, and tommy releases the letter and almost screams.

as the letter slowly falls to the ground, he realizes that he had been so caught up in his thinking that he didn't realize that wilbur had been right behind him.

"fuck." he mutters under his breath as he grabs the fallen letter.

wilbur clears his throat, and tommy freezes.

"what was that, toms?" he asked.

tommy turns around, "nothing!" he says, "and yeah, this is the letter from tubbo." he adds. _please don't ask to see the letter..._

"i want to see the letter." he says, hand outstretched. _(fuck. i just jinxed it.)_

tommy wordlessly gives him the letter, and as wilbur reads it, he prepares for his reaction.

tommy watches as the paper gets crumpled in wilbur's hand, and as he moves his mouth open to speak, rage obvious in his eyes, tommy, for once in his life, wishes that there was a god that would make a diversion because he is not prepared for wilbur's wrath.

` **technoblade has joined the server**`

...talk about perfect timing. he might have to start worshipping the blood god technoblade always talked about.

"i have to collect technoblade from spawn!" tommy says, already heading up, "i'll take the horse, and i'll make sure to bring him back as quick as possible, bye!" he adds, sprinting out of their new base.

hopefully, by the time they get back, he'd have calmed down by then. hopefully.

tommy places a saddle on the skeleton horse that he managed to tame a few days back and immediately heads towards spawn before wilbur could even get up from the ravine.

he does not look behind him as he tries to figure out the fastest way to get to spawn, after all, the people in manberg _(it should be l'manberg-)_ and the greater dream smp had an advantage. they were closer to spawn than their base- _(new nation- pogtopia, wilbur says.)_ was.

"riding horseback is faster than i realized." tommy murmured, as he rides past l'manberg, swiftly entering the woods near the greater dream smp, "this journey would have taken hours, had i gone by foot." horses would be their primary way of transportation then.

tommy reaches spawn in an hour, a journey that would usually take him five, maybe four if he ran. there, he finds technoblade, who looked like some sort of prince with his get-up.

"tommy, i was waiting for you!" technoblade says, upon spotting the younger, "we need to-"

"now is not the time techno," tommy says, "they'll be here any minute now, we'll talk once we get back to our base." _(he doesn't want to call it pogtopia yet, it just makes it feel real. god, he was exiled from l'manberg...)_

technoblade stares at him. "tommy, i'm not riding bitch." he deadpans.

tommy splutters, "well, i'm not riding bitch, so you have to-"

"tommy."

he only says one word, but that is all it takes for tommy to get down from the horse and for technoblade to take his place.

"can't believe you're making me ride bitch." tommy mutters as he gets on the horse again.

technoblade sighs, and as he readies his horse to go, he halts, and the next thing he says brings shivers down tommy's spine.

"oh look, it's eret." (it is said nonchalantly, as technoblade points towards the bushes.)

_(a day in the rain- comfort so warm he is friend will never betray so nice he- final control room, betrayal. it was never meant to be- the button the button the button-)_

"techno, we need to go." tommy panics, "go, now!"

(technoblade would have laughed, but at the genuine panic at his little brother's eyes, he makes the horse start moving the direction he saw tommy come in. he'd have to research what eret did to them.)

the ride to the base _(pogtopia pogtopiapog topia-)_ is quick and silent, and soon enough, they find themselves face to face with wilbur.

"did someone say rebellion?" technoblade asks as he gets off the horse, and wilbur cracks a grin.

tommy stares at technoblade, a renowned warrior that came to their aid because he was wilbur's brother, and he felt hope surge into his chest. they can take l'manberg back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update! i had to figure out the timeline because it confuses me so much, so i just made my own timeline haha. i also had to rewrite this chapter so many times because some of the dialogue was either awful, somehow misplaced, or didn't really fit in with the characters themselves. i really wanted to put them in too haha, but at least that means you guys have loads of bloopers! 
> 
> BLOOPER #1
>
>> technoblade fiddles with his communicator a bit, opening the tab section, where all of their gamertags were seen. he raises an eyebrow and stares up at wilbur.
>> 
>> "wilbur _soot_? really?" he chuckles, "you must have attended the wrong ball, cinderella."
>> 
>> wilbur glares at him.
> 
> BLOOPER #2
>
>> tommy squints at the message schlatt had sent on the communicator before glancing up at technoblade. "you're a traitor!?" he asks.
>> 
>> technoblade tilts his head, "no?" he says, "tommy, we're brothers, why would i betray you?"
>> 
>> "WE'RE BROTHERS!?"
> 
> BLOOPER #3
>
>> `jschlatt: oh good, techno you're here. please collect wilbur, he's being annoying.`  
> 
> 
> BLOOPER #4
>
>> tubbo looks down at his communicator. "oh, technoblade's here." he says nonchalantly.
>> 
>> schlatt stares at him, "you know technoblade?" he asks, voice strained.
>> 
>> he nods, "yeah, tommy used to live with them, i'm actually half convinced their brothers, because-" tubbo stops speaking as he notices schlatt leaving.
>> 
>> "schlatt? uh, schlatt-"
> 
> BLOOPER #5
>
>> technoblade stares at the bush. "oh hey, there's eret."
>> 
>> tommy scowls, "funny joke, technoblade." he nervously says.
>> 
>> "but i'm not-"
> 
> that's all!
> 
> dont forget to comment questions! i love answering them.

**Author's Note:**

> my twt is @itsyagirlac_ ! follow me for banger tweets and sometimes, fic updates!
> 
> tubbo and tommy are platonic! do not ship!
> 
> update schedule: i'm pulling a punz and not having an actual schedule, just updating whenever i feel like it
> 
> don't forget to leave a kudos, bookmark and/or comment!


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